Books, e-books, cemetery transcripts, census substitutes, militia records, land records, memberships, and more!
Shop MarketPlace Now
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Have you played the new Genealogy Whodunit Mystery Game?
Help Find Great-Uncle George!
Learn genealogy research and Vivid-Pix tips & tricks!
Those who successfully complete the challenge can enter to win great prizes, including a weekend in New York City, London or $1,000 USD, and photo gifts!
SOLVE THE MYSTERY!
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 2022 Ontario Ancestors Webinar Series
As we move into planning for the Ontario Ancestors 2022 Webinar Series we are looking for feedback from all of you about what you would like to see. If you could take a moment to share your opinion with us, it will help us create the best possible line-up of speakers you want to hear. Simply click on the link below to share your views!
Thank you - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KCXZTNL
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Further Developments in Ancestry’s Changing Terms of Service
Patti Mordasewicz, Editor, eWeekly Update
Genealogists the world over debated this week the changes made by Ancestry to their Terms of Service on August 3rd. While Ancestry didn’t change their minds, they did add clarification to their earlier statement.
For what they did, and what it may mean, check out Judy Russell’s post Ancestry retreats.
Amy Johnson Crow’s views were expressed differently: “Ancestry and other online trees make it easy to share our genealogy—our discoveries, photos, and stories—but they shouldn't be the only way that we share”. Read her blog post for further insight.
And Thomas MacEntee provided his “take” on the recent changes. You can read his message here.
And if you want to remove images from Ancestry, or make them private, check out DiAnn Iamarino’s blog post here.
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RootsTech 2022 Call for Content
The RootsTech Team
RootsTech 2022 will take place March 3–5, 2022, and will be a completely virtual event. We want to invite you to share your message with that large, global audience.
In the coming weeks, we'll be opening our call for content. This year's process will be a little different from years past, but hopefully better. We're building a self-serve portal that will allow you to upload, build, and adjust your content on the fly. Here is how it works:
- Propose—Once the call goes out, you'll submit your content proposal and we'll review it for approval
- Create—If your proposal is approved, make your video!
- Upload—Once your video is ready for the world (no pressure!), upload it to the RootsTech portal. There you can adjust names, titles, locations, descriptions, and more to your heart's content, right up to the day of the event.
- Be Seen—During RootsTech 2022, your content could be seen by millions all over the world—not just during the event, but afterwards as well.
The call for content will likely open toward the end of August, so be sure to watch for the official invite. In the meantime, start thinking about what you want to say. We can't wait to see what you come up with, and we're looking forward to another great year at RootsTech 2022.
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Come along and visit with Ontario Ancestors and members of the Wellington Branch and the Scottish Special Interest Group at this year’s Festival!
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A New Magazine You May Want to Read
Patti Mordasewicz, Editor, eWeekly Update
 What do you do if you’re the Communications Manager of a not-well-known government-delegated authority which regulates and supports those engaged in the bereavement sector? How do you reach Ontarians to inform them about their rights and protections when they are dealing with the grief associated with a loss, or to provide advice to them when planning for these services? Well, if you’re David Brazeau, the Communications Manager of the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), you create a magazine to reach out with stories and information that people can use when dealing with the “death care industry”. And so, the magazine Beyond was born as a way to tell interesting stories that resonate with people.
“The mandate of the BAO is to cover all aspects of all of the businesses and services that make up the bereavement sector – such as cemeteries, funeral homes, crematoria – but most people don’t want to talk about these subjects. So we searched for a means to communicate with Ontarians that “We’re here for you – it’s not just our catchphrase, it’s why we exist – we’re here to protect you!”
As many of our readers know, Ontario Ancestors, along with the Ontario Historical Society, has worked with the BAO and its predecessors to ensure that there is an up-to-date and accurate list of all of the cemeteries – active, inactive, private, community or corporate – that exist in the Province. And a cemetery is the subject of the cover story for the first edition of the digital magazine – The Underground Railroad’s Legacy in Ontario cemeteries.
This issue of the magazine also includes an article about Green burials, and another about the remarkable steps one funeral director took to fulfill the wishes of a client. There are information pieces about the role the BAO plays in ensuring funds for pre-paid expenses are protected, and ensuring that recent COVID measures were followed by the funeral industry providers. David notes that “it is a testament to the funeral industry that only one funeral establishment in the entire province had its license suspended for not following COVID rules”.
When asked about developing content for the quarterly publication, David notes that they look for articles within the context of “what would matter to me and my family – what would I be interested in knowing”. There is a lot of material to choose from, issues that arise which are newsworthy, and the magazine will try to present material in a “conversational way” to make it easy to read and understand.”
The magazine Beyond is digital, free and free of advertising, and will be issued quarterly. An upcoming edition will include video links to some articles. To read the inaugural edition, or to subscribe, click this link.
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Fraternal and Benevolent Societies in Ontario
Dr. Fraser Dunford
Dr. Fraser Dunford has a new website providing information on these societies: www.FBSO.ca
A Fraternal Society is a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
A Benevolent Society is an association of people who pay regular dues or other sums in return for life insurance, old-age pensions, sickness benefits, etc.
Many societies were both. In Victorian times these societies were significant for social and insurance reasons, so many of our ancestors belonged to one or more. Many of these societies still exist; some of them became insurance companies which still exist, a great many have disappeared almost without trace.
This website is a determined effort to identify every fraternal and benevolent society that existed in Ontario and to provide lists of their branches. There were a great many of them! So far only a few are on the site; the rest will be uploaded over the coming months.
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Eldon House Summer Bazaar
Brenna Ardiel, Eldon House Interim Program Coordinator
On Saturday, August 28th from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm come and enjoy the Eldon House gardens, and peruse handmade products from local entrepreneurs. From candles to textiles to home décor, this bazaar has something for everyone. Come to Eldon House to support local artisans and enjoy the creativity of local businesses!
Admission is by donation.
If you are a local artist or entrepreneur and are interested in participating, please download the vendor application form here. For more information about the bazaar visit the website; to submit your application email info@eldonhouse.ca.
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Town of York Historical Society and Toronto’s First Post Office Offer a Walking Tour: On the Edge of the City – Toronto in 1813
On Sunday August 22nd, 11:00 am - 12:30pm, explore the Town of York on foot with one of our expert historians! In this walking tour, join us as we explore the Battle of York while we walk the original 10 blocks of the early city.
Tours start and end at Toronto’s First Post Office, 260 Adelaide Street East in Toronto. Tours run rain or shine, and may cover rough ground, so please dress accordingly. All ages are welcome. Dogs and bicycles are welcome as we walk, though portions of some tours may include indoor areas where they are restricted.
Tickets are $10.00 plus HST for TYHS members and $15.00 for non-members, plus HST.
Purchase Tickets and Register Here
Toronto's First Post Office is fully reopened at limited capacity. We are overjoyed to be welcoming everyone back to our space! Indoor museum programs, workshops, and rentals remain paused for the time being.
Please visit our dedicated Covid-19 page for more information.
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Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe Convention 2021
Helen Gillespie, Publicity, SGGEE
SGGEE has opened registration for its virtual conference the weekend of Sept. 18-19. "Finding Our Stories" will be presented on Zoom and features speakers sharing stories and tools that can help you in your research. The Society will also hold its annual general meeting for members.
Links for both registration forms are on the SGGEE home page. You can also get the links, along with instructions, on the convention blog https://sggee2021convention.blogspot.com/
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Updates from our Favourite Bloggers
Karen Jaszewski sent us a link to Free to Use and Reuse Sets from the Library of Congress.
At Olive Tree Genealogy Lorine McGinnis Schulze posted more in her Haldimand Obituaries series.
Gail Dever at Genealogy à la carte told us how the BIFHSGO Conference plans to help recreate the buzz of an in-person conference in BIFHSGO adds opportunities to mingle with genealogists and chat with exhibitors at its virtual conference. She also updated us on New Quebec family history at BAnQ-May 2021 and wrote about New season of Finding Your Roots begins January 2022.
Family Tree (U.K.) magazine has created a survey about Sharing & publishing your family history. They are “interested in exploring ways in which they can help family historians share and publish their family history and research”. You can take the survey here.
At Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections John D. Reid noted Ancestry adds Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825. He also wrote about the Heron Road Bridge Collapse that happened in Ottawa 55 years ago.
At Legacy Family Tree, Gina Philibert-Ortega wrote Library Essentials: What Do You Take on a Research Trip? (remember those?)
Wayne Shepheard at Discover Genealogy gave us Finding Cousins: About families, death, online trees and DNA.
The Drouin Team at GenealogyQuebec posted New birth, marriage and death records on Genealogy Quebec.
Donna Moughty in Irish Family Roots wrote Sometimes you need to re-evaluate.
At Fortify Your Family Tree DiAnn Iamarino posts Which part of Your Ancestry Needs to Be Private? If you want to remove photos and documents from Ancestry before their new T&C come into effect, DiAnn tells you how.
At The Hidden Branch, check out this week’s Tuesday Tip about how to transcribe records.
Dick Eastman at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter asked How Many People Are Related to the Mayflower Pilgrims?
At Family Tree Knots Ken McKinlay wrote about the 1921 Census and Addresses in Ontario.
And at John Grenham - Irish Roots John points us to a new video on his YouTube channel outlining ways of accessing historic Irish Presbyterian records.
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Museum of Ontario Archaeology is Hosting a Free Scavenger Hunt!
Dr. Rhonda Bathurst, Executive Director, MOA
 The Museum of Ontario Archaeology (MOA) has provided education and adventure to the London community since 1933, and this year, we are excited to be hosting our first Heritage Scavenger Hunt from on Friday, August 27th to Monday, September 6th!
This free and family-friendly event will encourage Londoners and visitors to the city to get outdoors in small teams of up to five players to explore ten of London's historical and heritage locations. "We know the community is as eager as we are to have a little fun and adventure this summer! We thought this would be a fun, safe way to encourage the community to learn more about what archaeology is and how it has helped to tell the story of London's history," says Rhonda Bathurst, the Executive Director.
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on local museums such as the MOA, as well as on the London business community. We have designed this activity to encourage the exploration of 10 heritage locations across London:
- Museum of Ontario Archaeology
- Sifton Bog
- Springbank Park
- Terry Fox Parkway/multi-use path
- Cemeteries (Woodland or Brick Street Cemeteries)
- Talbot Block
- Victoria Park
- Western Fair District
- Meadowlily Woods
- Westminster Ponds
We hope that this Heritage Scavenger Hunt will encourage Londoners to explore the heritage in their own backyards and encourage participants to support some of the generous local businesses in and around these areas who are helping to make this event possible!
Those adventurous enough to complete the activities will be entered into draws for some fun prizes! To join the hunt, players must register at our Eventbrite prior to 6:00 pm EDT on August 26th: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/heritage-scavenger-hunt-registration-154441128573
Please be sure to read and abide by the rules. This scavenger hunt is for experiences and information - do not remove or damage anything from any location!
You can learn more about the scavenger hunt on our new scavenger hunt website: https://moascavengerhunt.com/home.
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What’s New at The Big 4?
 Trace your missing ancestors at FamilySearch in 18 million new records from Norway Church Books, and more from England Nottinghamshire Church Records, Middlesex Parish Registers, and England Navy Allotments from the British National Archives.
Browse expanded collections for Brazil, El Salvador, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, and the US. You can find the complete list of this week’s additions here.
 MyHeritage hasn’t posted any additions this week, but their blog post will be of interest to family historians: Future-proof Your Family History: How to Make Sure Your Genealogy Research Outlives You. MyHeritage recently hosted a Facebook Live session with Thomas MacEntee – you can watch it here – and the post “provides a summary of the important points Thomas made and the excellent tips and advice he provided in this session.”
 Findmypast’s BIG announcement this week was their project, in partnership with the British Library, to make over a million newspaper pages completely free to search and view on their websites. And they promise “much more to come…” You can watch the video Tour of Free Newspapers, here.
With new British Army and English parish records, amazing family discoveries await in this week’s additions.
We’ve completed the collection British Army, Royal Engineers 1900-1949 by adding over 130,000 more tracer card records. Most of them cover World War 2.
The must-search military resource British Army Service Records
has expanded again with the arrival of over 6,000 new Chelsea Pensioners’ discharge documents.
In partnership with Waltham Forest Family History Society, we’ve released over 43,000 baptism and burial records from several Essex churches.
We’ve added thirteen new newspapers, plus, we’ve added more pages to 22 other publications. You will find all of the information about these additions here.
 Ancestry’s Recently Added and Updated Collections list this week includes collections for Carinthia and Styria in Austria – church records from 1614-1940, an update to Pennsylvania birth certificates, and a new collection American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Obituaries.
Click the link above to see what’s new!
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Self-Guided Historical Driving Tour of Glengarry County
The Glengarry Pioneer Museum in eastern Ontario has developed a self-guided historical driving tour of Glengarry county.
This annual tour to historical locations in Eastern Ontario is going digital for 2021. Purchase your ticket online and immediately receive a map and audio file which you can listen to from the comfort of your own car. Local historians will introduce seven sites in English and French and tell the tales of days gone by. The tour can be taken any day during the height of the summer tourist season, or even be broken up over different days. Hop in your car, plan to hit a local restaurant, and explore the deep history that Glengarry has to offer.
Sites/topics include the Glengarry Pioneer Museum, Walking Tour of Historic Alexandria, Glengarry County Archives, Walking Tour of Historic Williamstown, Glengarry, Nor'westers and Loyalist Museum, The Peanut Line and a Walking Tour of Cooper Marsh Conservation Area.
The cost is $12 which includes map and audio recording. You can register here:
https://glengarrypioneermuseum.ca/event-calendar/#id=105&cid=1745&wid=601
Visit the museum’s website here for more information, including a CBC In Town and Out interview with Stuart Robertson, the project lead.
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LAC Launches a New Series of Short Podcasts – Treasures Revealed
Podcast fans, get your audio devices! You can now listen to the first podcast in the Treasures Revealed series.
 Each episode in this new series is 10 to 20 minutes long and features a special object from Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) collection. Whether for their rarity, historical significance or special interest, these items are Canadian treasures, and LAC experts will share why with you. They will also recount fascinating stories about the creation, discovery, preservation or significance of these items.
Here is a peek at what to expect in the upcoming episodes:
- In the first episode, entitled “Cat Letter”, discover a 1908 letter written by Dominion Archivist Arthur Doughty to his superior. Find out why this archivist is seeking reimbursement for the purchase of several pints of milk.
- The episode “Pimm's Panorama” relates the story of a rare First World War military panorama, from the creation of the drawing in a trench in Belgium, to its fortuitous discovery in LAC’s archives in 2014.
- In another episode, discover one of the nearly 100 watercolours painted by Francis George Coleridge and held by LAC: “Woman on Snowshoes.” Learn what this work reveals about the lives of First Nations women in the middle of the 19th century.
Access all of our audio content on the Discover Library and Archives Canada podcast page. Be sure to catch every episode by subscribing to our Discover podcasts using RSS, iTunes, Google Podcasts or LAC’s YouTube channel.
Reference Services Across Borders
This week’s Discover blog post provides some insight into the diverse clientele and the diverse information needs services by Library and Archives Canada’s reference services. Explore some of those requests in the post by Virtue Tran, a Reference Librarian.
Some examples of topics that have piqued the interest of our international clients:
From Martinique: Guadeloupe domestics in 1910–1911
Request for information regarding the Canadian immigration service during that period and biographies of various immigration public servants who worked on the file of Guadeloupe domestic workers. This is found mainly in books discussing the history of immigration legislation and the policies of Canada. At the time, the Department of the Interior was responsible for immigration. Because immigration of Black people was discouraged, as was the case for other ethnic groups, immigration officers would find ways to deport them under the Immigration Act of 1910.
 From France: “Les Belles Mères” by La Bolduc
Request for information on the song “Les Belles Mères” by this famed folk musician. This song borrowed the “Red River Valley” melody as mentioned in an extensive biography published on our webpage. It is available on Virtual Gramophone along with other digitized songs by La Bolduc while materials such as books, articles and musical scores are searchable through our catalogue Aurora.
From the United Kingdom: Stephen Leacock recordings
Request for a list of audio records of the writings of Stephen Leacock. Specifically, the requester wanted to know the names of those who were speaking in the recordings. LAC holds many audio recordings that can be located through our Aurora catalogue. Information about the readers is found within the bibliographical records, in the section on performers, in the notes or even in the title.
To read the entire blog post and see additional illustrations, click here.
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FREE WEBINAR: Tara Shymanski
DATE: Thursday, Sepember 2nd at 7:00 pm EDT
Topic: I Found Them On The Census: Now What?
It all started with the 1921 census. Follow the Franklin family from Saskatchewan to Ontario and to England. Learn how use census, civil and church records as we track this family back four generations. Find out how to extract information from censuses, calculate birth, marriage, and death dates and create a database to organize facts. Then discover where to find government and church records that will verify the facts. All this from census records!
Tara Shymanski is a professional genealogy researcher, lecturer, and blogger. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies. She has presented at genealogy conferences in United States, Western Canada, the local genealogy society, and the Family History Centre in Calgary.
Her siblings would not listen to her stories, so she blogs about her ancestors at Shymanski Genealogy Research. Her family now reads and enjoys the stories. At least, that’s what they tell her.
For more information and to register, click here!
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Check out our Global Events Calendar on the our website to see the meetings and events coming up soon. During the pandemic all of the events listed will take place in an online environment.
Branch or SIG events will appear in the Calendar on the Ontario Ancestors website if it is included on the events calendar of the Branch/SIG website.
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Missed an issue of eWeekly? Click here to read previous editions of eWeekly.
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