1891 Canada Census Abbreviations

Recently a member of an online group posed a very interesting question. She asked "Does anyone know what the initials, "s.a." in the religion column stand for on the 1891 Canadian Census?"

S.A. is not found on the official list of abbreviations to be used by the 1891 census takers. So what could it mean?

The general consensus of the group was that S.A. stood for "Salvation Army" Does anyone else have any ideas?

Found: A Book that Survived a Bomb Blast in 1940

ABC Adelaide posted on their Facebook page and I thought I'd help share this through my Olive Tree Genealogy blog and Social Media.

Can you help us find the owner or family of this book that survived a bomb blast - probably during the Battle of Britain in the UK? 
Megan Dubois is a book collector who found this rare find in a second-hand store in Cleve so if you know any Goddard’s who used to live around Cleve, or perhaps a McLellen or McHellen family who came out to Australia after World War 2, we’d love to hear from you! 

The inscription reads, "I bought this book in 1935 for 1/- it was in our house when a land mine dropped on it in 1940 Oct 18. I rescued it from the rubble and have used it ever since, I also had a cookery book from the same edition which my daughter Dian McLellen (Possibly McHellen) has. Joyce Goddard (Mrs) 1985."

What Strange Inscriptions Have You Seen on a Photo?

Photo Detective posed an interesting question on her Facebook page: "What's the strangest thing you've ever seen written on a family photo?"

I have a few vague or humourous inscriptions on photos but my favourite is this photo on the left with the inscription:

"Merchant Maulsby, cousin Matilda’s father the meanest man that ever lived"

 

 

 

I also like this inscription on an 1860s cartes de visite (CDV) of Lydia Edwards. She does look ill or at the very least, depressed.

 

"Lydia Edwards, Grandfather’s wife and a great invalid" 

 

What are some of the unusual writings you've ever found on an old photo? 

Searchable Illinois Physcian Database Online

James Craig Small 1917

The Illinois State Archives is happy to announce that the Physician Database is now available on CyberDriveIllinois

The database consists of more than 62,700 physicians and surgeons who registered for license with the Illinois State Board of Health and the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. The records span August 1877 to February 17, 1937.

The database contains more than 62,700 names of physicians or surgeons. Entries include the physician’s full name; certificate number issued; the known counties where the physician resided; year of registration or certificate issuance; and the volume and page numbers of the register where the physician’s entry appeared. Beginning in September 1898, the line number on the register page containing the entry is also listed. The date of birth for each physician or surgeon is included starting in 1924. Register entries occasionally listed multiple registration dates, counties, or ages for some physicians or surgeons.

Each database entry contains a link to the image of the register pages containing the physician’s entry.Here is the entry for the image above

Name James Craig Small

Certificate Number 12787

Line Number 7

Original Volume & Page #'s V. 11, n.p.

Year of License 1917

Residence/Location (Illinois Counties Listed) Cook

A New Leaf TV Show Starts Oct 5th!

Host Daisy Fuentes is taking ordinary people on an emotional journey to help them discover more about their family’s origins. Who will add A New Leaf to their family tree?

From A New Leaf Facebook page:

A New Leaf will follow everyday people on the cusp of key life inflection points, using family history, genealogy, and sometimes DNA analysis to help guide them on their journey of self discovery. Along the way, viewers will learn about different cultures as our featured guest uncovers new information about their family's heritage. Each week, A New Leaf will teach viewers the importance of appreciating and understanding their family history in order to make important decisions to enact positive changes in their lives.

Catch the Series Premiere on NBC on Saturday, October 5th!

Listowel Ontario Photo Album Found

Shelley C. posted on the Ontario Genealogy Facebook page:

I've "rescued" an old photograph album that belonged to the STRACHAN Family from Ontario, Canada. The album includes photographs of:

Jim STRACHAN (2 photos)
Ed STRACHAN
Nellie DAVIDSON
Alex STRACHAN
Kate CAMPBELL
Dale FRANKISH
Agnes STRACHAN MEEKS
Margaret PENOYER
Uncle Alex STRACHAN + CAMPBELL
Hugh & Maggie STRACHAN
Tom & George STRACHAN
Len MEEKS
+ six unidentified photographs

The photographs were taken in Listowel, Ontario, Canada; Watkins, NY; Canandaigua, NY; and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in the 1870's through 1900's.

If you know the family you can either contact Shelley through Facebook or leave a comment on this post and I will see that she receives it.

125 Year Old Letter Found in Floorboards

"A letter written in 1894 and found between the linoleum and floor boards of a house being demolished to make way for Hobart's State Library will finally be returned to the author's family." ABC News

The letter was written by Sidney Hulbert on May 13, 1894 while he was in Sydney Australia and was found by Rex Nightingale during construction. He held on to the letter for 60 years and then turned to Social Media to find descendants. After being posted to ABC Facebook pages in both Hobart and Sydney, the letter was identified by its author's grand-niece Robyn Lobb.

Continue reading 125 year old letter found under floor to be returned to writer's family after social media search

Archives of Michigan New Website!

The Archives of Michigan new site, Michiganology.org, is now live! They have many upcoming items of interest to genealogists. For example this is what they say about Michigan death records which are currently searchable from 1921 to 1947:

Over the next months this collection will grow to include death certificates from 1897 to 1952. Death certificates from 1897 to 1943 will display full images while 1944 to 1952 will only provide index information. Once these certificates are older than seventy-five years, the images will be added.

You can also volunteer to help index Michigan Naturalization records

Naturalization is the process by which a person born outside the United States becomes an American citizen. Citizenship records can provide a wealth of information to family historians. The amount of information varies by year, but can include the date and location of a person’s birth, occupation, immigration year, marital status and spouse information, the names and addresses of the people who witnessed the naturalization ceremony and more. 

New BDM for New Brunswick online!

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick recently added more records to their searchable Vital Records database

As of September 12, 2019 there are 1,007,301 birth, death & marriage records online consisting of the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Births

Index	Description	Years	Records	Last updated
141A1b	Index to Late Registration of Births	1810-1923	111,915	2019-09-09
141A1c	Index to Late Registration of Births: County Series	1869-1901	2,294	2019-09-10
141A2/2	Index to County Birth Registers	1800-1919	87,950	2019-09-10
141A5	Index to Provincial Registrations of Births	1870-1923	158,708	2019-09-03

Marriages

Index	Description	Years	Records	Last updated
141B7	Index to New Brunswick Marriages	1847-1968	280,000	2019-09-12

Deaths

Index	Description	Years	Records	Last updated
141C1	Index to County Death Registers	1885-1921	40,447	2019-08-07
141C4	Provincial Returns of Deaths	1815-1919	84,191	2019-08-12
141C5	Index to Death Certificates	1918-1968	241,796	2019-09-12

Search for Ancestors in Insane Asylums

Sometimes our ancestors ended up in Insane Asylums not because they were insane but for other reasons - post partum depression in women, menopause, depression... any number of occurrences could land an individual in an asylum.

Olive Tree Genealogy has an Insane Asylum section which includes England, Scotland, Australia and Canada. One database in particular may be of interest to Canadian genealogists.

Toronto Insane Asylum 1841 ABSTRACT of PATIENTS admitted, discharged, and remaining in the temporary Lunatic Asylum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada from January 21st to July 31st, inclusive, 1841 

Introducing The Photo Alchemist!

Olive Tree Genealogy is thrilled to introduce my readers to Claudia D'Souza aka The Photo Alchemist. I first noticed Claudia's amazing restorations and colourization of ancestor photos a few months ago. 

Read Claudia's story and visit her website at www.thephotoalchemist.biz

I have watched the video of Claudia colourizing a photo at least a dozen times. I'm fascinated by her technique and in awe of the finished product.  And now ... Claudia's story below

In 2009, I started researching my family history. Soon I was diving into the fortunes and misfortunes of my ancestors.

I marvelled at the explorer life of German great grandad Frederick, whose father was a founding member of the now extinct German Club in Burma, and who was forced to flee to India, and leave all his wealth behind, following the invasion of the Japanese; I cried as I unravelled the tragic life of British great grandma Jayne who, by the age of 23, had already buried three husbands and my heart broke while trying to discover the mysterious origins of Portuguese Grandfather Candido, who was abandoned at a doorstep of a rich doctor, on a cold Christmas Eve.

Claudia at The Genealogy Show in Birmingham England

Photographs became a huge part of my newly found obsession. If records, letters and documents are the bones of a family history, photos are without doubt the flesh. However, I was sad to find that photos were scarce, and often in very bad condition. I searched for restoration services, but they all required me to part with my precious originals, and there was no way on earth I was prepared to do that!

So, combining my advanced IT skills with my Fashion History passion and Art skills, I started exploring and developing ways of not only restoring and retouching old photos, but also adding carefully researched colour, enabling us to see our ancestors, just like they saw themselves and each other.
Knowing Grandfather Candido was abandoned on Christmas Eve felt 100 times more vivid, once I restored and colourised his photo and looked into his profound, sorrowful brown eyes.  Seeing the face of great grandma Jayne in colour, showed me a strong woman with whom suddenly I felt a deep connection even though we never met!

In 2017, I started interacting with genealogists across the world via social media and, after sharing one of my pieces online, I was flooded with requests for help with old photos. Realising I could help others and feed my passion, I quit my job as a Marketing Director and launched “The Photo Alchemist”.

Now I spend my days digitally bringing to life photos from clients all over the world, without the need for them to part with their precious originals. But the best part of my job is getting to know other people’s family histories, being trusted with their precious family photos, and playing a small part in keeping their legacies alive.

WEBSITE: www.thephotoalchemist.biz  
TWITTER: @Dsouza_Claudia
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/thephotoalchemist

Women’s Travel Diaries 1827-1991

Thanks to FamilyTreeMagazine for posting that Duke University has a digital collection of historic women's travel diaries available online. 

The diaries in this digital collection were written by British and American women who documented their travels to places around the globe, including India, the West Indies, countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as around the United States. 

There are over 100 diaries of varying length, selected from several archival collections at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.

Online Images Boston Pilot Missing Friends

Boston Pilot (1838-1857)
Volume XI, Number 41, 7 October 1848

Run, don't walk, to view the online pages of The Boston Pilot  at Boston College Libraries to match your ancestor found in my Missing Friends Project.

The Missing Friends Project is abstracting the names of those who immigrated from UK to America or Canada and who were inquired about by family in various 19th Century newspapers. 

Missing Friends Project starts with Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, published in London England and their weekly column (1886-1900) called "Long Lost Relatives". We also have begun extracting names of those in the Boston Pilot, published in Boston Massachusetts (1831-1921).

Our Boston Pilot project is only extracting the names of missing Irish individuals who sailed to Canada. It is important to note that many who sailed first to Canada went on to USA and are so noted in the extracts. Many of the relatives and friends seeking them were based in USA and their location is also given.

Available online: 27 January 1838 - 26 December 1857 (996 issues)

Find Your New Netherland (NY) Ancestors

If you have ancestors who settled in New Netherland (present day New York) in the 17th Century you will want to have a look on Olive Tree Genealogy's New Netherland Section:

• New Netherland History 
• New Netherland Settlers Books
• Ships Passenger Lists to New York 
• 500 voyages to and from New Netherland (New York)
• Cemetery Records (Cemetery, Obits) 
• Census Records 
• Church Records (B, D, M)
• City Directories
• Land & Mortgage Records 
• Military Records
• Wills & Probate Records
• Ancestor Signatory hand marks  
• Translation of words in Church records 
• Understanding Patronymics 
• Dutch Names & Nicknames  
• Glossary of Dutch Words  
• Ancient Dutch Occupations
• Life in 17th Century Amsterdam
• Dutch & English translations for Occupations 
• New Netherland Settlers   
•  

Search Passenger Lists Canada to New York

OliveTreeGenealogy.com announces a new project to transcribe ships passenger lists leaving Canada.

Many of these passenger lists were donated to OliveTreeGenealogy.com by Shelby Thompson from her personal collection. Others were submitted by visitors to Ships Lists Online and are published on OliveTreeGenealogy.com with permission.

Our ShipsListsOnline and OliveTreeGenealogy.com Teams are hard at work on these ships passenger lists so please watch this page or join Olive Tree Genealogy Newsletter for updates on this and other Ship Passenger List Indexing Projects

Passenger lists of ships sailing from Canada to New York can be searched online on OliveTreeGenealogy.com

Free Access to Ancestry's U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-1999

3 Generations: 1991, 1969, 1941

Ancestry now has over 450,000 yearbooks from all 50 states! 

From Aug 27 - Sep 2, you can browse U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 for free!

Over 450,000 yearbooks

More than 62 million pages

Is your yearbook missing?  Immortalize your yearbook by donating!

Find a War of 1812 Ancestor

Are you looking for an ancestor who fought in the War of 1812?

The new website CanadianMilitaryProject.com has many records to help you in your search

Choose from War of 1812 Overview, Battles, Biographies, Muster Rolls, Medals & Awards, War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815, U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 , Canada, Registers of Prisoners of War, 1803-1815

Win a Free Pass to the VGA Virtual Conference in November!

Olive Tree Genealogy has two (2) free passes to give away to the VGA virtual conference  being held November 1-3, 2019!

Attendees will have access to recordings & handouts for all sessions for 6 months following the event - watch any time, any place, on any device.

To win a free pass, simply share this blog post on Twitter or Facebook, following instructions below:

1.On Twitter use the hashtag #OliveTreeGenealogyFreePass or tag me using @LorineMS

2. On Facebook, tag me @LorineMcGinnisSchulze or @OliveTreeGenealogy

I will collect the names of those who used the hashtag on Twitter or tagged me on Facebook. A random draw for 2 winners will take place Tuesday August 27, 2019 at noon Eastern Daylight Time. Winners will be notified on Facebook and Twitter that afternoon.

Contest Rules:
 
1. No purchase necessary.
2. Winner will be chosen at random from correct entries received. See details above for entry requirements
3. Two winners will be chosen to receive the giveaway.
4. You are responsible for anything in regards to the legality of entering a contest in the area in which you live.

Find Ancestors in New York Almshouse Records 1819-1840

New York Almshouse Records 1819 to 1840 contain the names of the ship each person sailed on, plus dates of arrival. Includes arrivals in Canadian ports 

In the early 1800's port cities in the USA bore the burden of immigration. By the time they arrived, so many immigrants were tired, hungry and poor they ended up in the City Almshouse. This meant the citizens had to take care of them. At first the citizens of the city asked the Mayors for funds to support the poor. Eventually they asked the states, and by mid-century some states (PA, NY, MA) set up State agencies to deal with the issue. Eventually, beginning in the 1880's, the Federal Government nationalized the programs. 

Dating back to the colonial era, New York City assumed responsibility for its citizens who were destitute, sick, homeless, or otherwise unable to care for themselves. The city maintained an almshouse, various hospitals, and a workhouse on Blackwell's Island (now called Roosevelt Island) for the poor. 

There are 2 pages for each name in this ledger. I have only copied part of the left hand page. There is more information on the microfilm, including Captain's Name, Owner's Name, Date of Bond, Sureties, Date Discharged, Death Date, Remarks, Bonded, Commuted & Total.

WW1 ID Tags & Tributes

One of the  missions of Olive Tree Genealogy Blog is to reunite found items such as  Dog ID Tags, Medals, etc of soldiers with their descendants. To date my readers have worked on the following cases and been successful in reuniting soldiers’ dog id tags with family members.

We still have more cases coming in and we have old cases that have not yet been solved. If you have a moment would you read through one of the open cases and help find family?

Below are some of the tributes to the soldiers whose dog tags, medals or photographs we own.

WW1 Nursing Sister Gertrude Billyard Gertrude Billyard was born in Windsor Ontario on March 1, 1881. When Gertrude enlisted at the age of 34 on February 24, 1915 her mother Annie was living in Young Saskatchewan. This address was later changed to Winnipeg Manitoba as Gertrude’s pay was sent to her mother. Surprisingly, Gertrude enlisted in London England not in Canada.

Tribute to WW1 Soldier William Bulger Pte. W. R. Bulger’s name is stamped on the side of this Canadian WW1 Medal which my husband and I have in our WW1 collection. Pte. Bulger’s Regimental Number is difficult to read but it ends in 2369. He is noted as being assigned to 2-CMR which stands for 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. A search for his Attestation papers online reveals that his full name was William Robert Bulger and his Reg. Number was 3032369. He was born Sept. 28, 1888 in Georgetown Ontario but was living in Toronto when he enlisted.

WW1 Soldier W. J. P. Bullock One of the framed photos of CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) soldiers on our wall is labelled “Pte. W. J. P. Bullock” of Toronto Ontario. This young man enlisted on September 2, 1915, one year  after WW1 began in August 1914.

WW1 Nursing Sister Jean Cameron-Smith Jean Cameron-Smith was born in Perth Ontario on September 22, 1871. A search of the online Birth Registrations for Ontario provides a late registration dated 1933.  Her father’s name is given as Robert Ralph Cameron-Smith. Her mother is  Helen Mason.

Tribute to WW1 Soldier Walter Culbertson This WW1 Medal is stamped with the name of the soldier on the side. It reads 3056604 (Regimental Number) and GNR (Gunner) R. Culbertson C.F.A. We believe that CFA stands for Canadian Forces Artillery.

Tribute to WW1 Soldier Arthur Fitzgerald This is another Tribute for a Canadian soldier. His name and service number are given on the front of his WW1 ID Tag – A. Fitzgerald, Service Number 55422.

WW1 Nursing Sister Edith Mary Harston Edith Mary Harston was born in Warwickshire England June 5, 1886. On her CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) Attestation Paper she provides her mother’s name as Mrs. Emily E. Harston of Stafford England.

Tribute to Ira Harry Huehn WW1 Soldier in PPCLI ra Harry Huehn was born 10 June 1895 in Toronto. He enlisted in the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) on August 15, 1915 when he was just 20 years old.

WW1 Soldier Douglas McNabb Private Douglas McNabb’s framed WW1 photograph hangs on our wall. We don’t know Douglas and we are not related. But he is one of several CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) soldiers who we honour.

WW1 CEF Soldier Charles H. Welsh We own the Pay Book of Gunner Charles H. Welsh #335325 who attested on February 4, 1918. His pay book gives his next of kin as his father David H. Welsh, and his mother Mary Ann Welsh, both of Palmerston Ontario.