|
|
| **************OGS NEWS ITEMS***************
Notes from the Chairperson
“On the Road or on the Net?” That question, boldly featured on
the cover of a recent genealogical publication (Discovering Family
History, January/February 2010), made me examine my own research
methods. Some years ago, all research was done “on the road” – we
travelled some distance to view records, meet distant cousins, visit
cemeteries, and read old newspapers. Then came the convenience of
published indexes, microfilms, and interlibrary loan. In the last 10
years, the huge growth of Internet genealogy websites and resources
has made research much faster and easier, but has it also made family
history less interesting by removing much of the personal part of the
process? Unfortunately, this trend has also resulted in people who “found the whole family back five
generations on the Internet!”
Why not use the best of both worlds? If you are comfortable using the Internet, take full
advantage of its resources – to guide you to the actual records (remember that an indexer or transcriber
unfamiliar with your family name may have misinterpreted the name so that it is almost unrecognizable).
If you can afford to, use the fee-based websites. Find out if your local library subscribes to some of those
fee-based websites; Huron County libraries have Ancestry Library Edition. Then, phone ahead and travel
– to archives, museums, libraries, government offices, wherever more indices and the actual records can
be found. Visit those newly-discovered third-cousins-once-removed, walk the cemeteries, visit the
neighbourhood or farm where your ancestors lived, and take lots of pictures – make it personal!
Internet or Road Trip? The author of the article left it to the reader to decide, but it was not difficult
to determine what the author’s preference was. My answer – use both.
We would love to welcome you to our genealogical library in Goderich or at one of our monthly
meetings. We are excited about our roster of speakers and topics for 2010. Happy searching.
Arlyn Montgomery
Upcoming Events
Saturday, April 17, 2010
OGS Region 3 Annual Meeting and Workshop, hosted by the Bruce & Grey
Branch OGS at the Ayton Centennial Hall. The agenda includes speakers Roberta Clark (Traps
and Pitfalls in Your Genealogical Research) and Gordon Torrie (Using Technology in Your
Cemetery Research). For more details, see the registration form on page 15 of this newsletter.
Friday, May 14 to Sunday, May 16, 2010
OGS Conference 2010 “Essentials, Innovations and Delights”
hosted by the Toronto Branch OGS at the Doubletree by Hilton at the Toronto Airport. A carefully
selected roster of speakers will deliver a program packed with practical lectures and workshops,
two excursions, and a vendors’ marketplace. Featured speakers will be Thomas W. Jones,
Karolyn Smardz-Frost, and John Philip Colletta. For more information go to the website at
www.ogs.on.ca/conference2010 or the blog at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/2010/.
Knocking Down Brick Walls – the Search for Alice Fletcher
by Joyce Solomon Pinkney, Goderich, October 2009
We had lost track of my great aunt, Alice Fletcher. She was born in 1881 in Dufferin County, one
of 12 children in the family. In 1910, at 30 years of age, she married Wm. Lindsay. They left Ontario to
live in Saskatchewan, and they showed up in the 1911 census there on a farm near Mossbank.
We also knew that when Alice’s oldest brother and his wife had twins, the wife and one twin (a
boy) died. Alice and Wm. took the other twin, infant Mildred, and raised her. We also “thought” we knew
that Mildred married a John Henery; a letter to my grandmother mentioned Mildred and John having a
daughter named Della.
Now remember during Stump-the-Panel night in September I asked how I might attack the task
of finding more about this family! Well, I received multiple hints and suggestions. Upon coming home
that night I Googled “Mossbank, Saskatchewan”, did lots of clicking and found addresses for two
newspapers in the area, one a daily and one a weekly, and also an address for a museum. I then sent
off a letter and query to the three places.
Well, within a week I had a return letter from the Mossbank and District Museum. Enclosed were
three clippings from a local history book:
1. A short history re Aunt Alice and Wm. Lindsay written by that little twin Mildred, who was then an adult,
and a picture of her with her parents.
2 & 3. A write-up from the same book re Mildred, who had remarried to Lester McKee after her first
husband John Henning had died (Henning, not Henery!). There was a clipping re both the Henning family
and the McKee family, whose families too were early settlers in the area.
Now the great part! One article mentioned the names of Mildred’s daughters from her first
marriage, giving a married name for one of them. Well I Googled again, this time 411, found two choices,
picked up the phone and dialled. Della Pillipow answered – my second cousin, aged 78. I was pleased,
but she was very surprised! She could only recall ever hearing of two siblings of her grandmother Alice,
not 11.
As “they” say, family memories may not be the most accurate but they usually do have some truth.
As a child we had few snapshots around, but I do recall one with a picture of two little girls, Della and a
Joyce. Well, I was Joyce and I had a sister Della, but I knew it was not a snap of us. Guess what? Della
Pillipow, whom I talked with in Saskatchewan, had a sister Joyce. Picture mystery solved! Unfortunately,
neither of us knows why the names were chosen as they have not appeared elsewhere in this family tree.
And so, many thanks to the group at Stump-the-Panel – you did encourage me to push forward!
And about queries: I placed a Solomon family query in Simcoe County Scan four years ago. Just
this spring I received an e-mail from a second cousin once removed who lives in Ashburn near Oakville.
Recently they had dinner at our house during a cemetery research trip to Goderich and Bluevale
cemeteries where Marlene’s maternal family are buried. As Arlyn keeps repeating... it doesn’t hurt to put
forth a query – you never know when you may get a hit!
2010: The Year of the Home Child
On Dec.7, 2009, MP Phil McColeman of Brant, Ont., introduced a private member’s bill in the
House of Commons encouraging the proclamation of 2010 as the year of the Home Child, and the bill was
passed following many members’ comments but with no debate. Phil McColeman is a conservative back
bencher. Even Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc, is the descendant of a home child.
100,000 British Home Children were sent to Canada during the years 1869-1939 to work with
pioneer families as domestics and farm hands. In recognition of the Home Children’s courage, ingenuity,
vision, and contributions in this forgotten period in Canada’s history, the Canadian Parliament has
unanimously designated 2010 as the year of the Home Child. As well, the Canadian Stamp Advisory
Board of Canada will issue one stamp in October 2010 in recognition of the Home Children, and the
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism plans to include recognition of their stories in
citizenship ceremonies.
|
|
|
