Sunday, January 24, 2016

Trekking Through Cemeteries in BC

My hubby, myself, and our house guest Shannon Cherkowski, met with my old friend Mr. Dave Obee [genealogist extraordinaire] yesterday at Royal Oak Cemetery here in Victoria, and what a treat that was! Dave knows this massive cemetery inside and out, and has published a book titled "Royal Oak Burial Park A History and Guide". Turns out that book is Part 1 as he will be publishing Part 2 soon. One of the unlooked for benefits to this cemetery trekking was the ten hour sleep we all got last night!! Lots of walking and lots of fresh mountain/ocean air was good for us.

Even though Dave was working on little sleep, having just returned on a midnight flight, and with numerous jobs calling to him, he was the best guide possible to locate my family members who are now permanent residents of Royal Oak. Nothing is ever straightforward with genealogy research, and such is the case of one family members burial. There is a second person in one plot. A second UNKNOWN person with my maiden surname!! So now I get to go to the University of Victoria and do some research there!! Always something new to learn!! And you thought I was just 'holidaying'!! haha Two days ago I spent some hours at the Royal BC Archives. Such fun. And this afternoon we are trekking through another cemetery here on the island. I'll attempt to get some pictures posted, but that takes time. Enjoy your Sunday!




Cheers,
Pat

I Was Interviewed

A short while ago I was interviewed by Lorine McGinnis Schulze who runs the wonderful Olive Tree Genealogy website http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml as well as her Olive Tree blog http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/ If you scroll down her blog you'll find my interview or you can read it in it's entirety in PDF here http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/bios/Bio%20Patricia%20Ryan.pdf

Many thanks to everyone who voted to put forward my name as a Canadian genealogist worthy of the honour of being interviewed. As always I speak my mind! haha


Cheers from a sunny Sunday in Victoria BC,
Pat

Thursday, January 14, 2016

1/2 Price FindMyPast - ends tonight

I've just seen this now, and the offer ends tonight Thursday 14th Jan, 2016. http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2016/01/save-half-on-findmypast-subscriptions.html

Have arrived in Victoria where the flowers are blooming! When we left home it was -37Celsius so this is a welcome change. Even the cloudy skies are not bothering us ... yet. haha


Cheers,
Pat

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Newspapers!!

Just stumbled across this site and it's quite astounding! Obviously I've not been through even a fraction of the links, so can make no promises, but sure looks intriguing. 1000s of links, but also tutorials! Best of luck everyone! http://www.theancestorhunt.com/newspapers.html

I'll be too busy for the next week or so to do much more blogging, so if anything pops up you think would be interesting send it along to me. I'll eventually resurface. LOL


Cheers,
Pat

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Which Port Did Your Ancestor Arrive in the USA?

Most people only think of Ellis Island!! What a mistake! Here's an excellent article http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/04/06/destination-america-your-immigrant-ancestors-arrival-in-u-s-ports/

Don't miss the FREE downloadable guide at the bottom of the article.


Cheers,
Pat

Scottish RC Records

ScotlandsPeople, the premier website for Scottish researchers, has just announced a new set of Catholic registers to search. The indexes are FREE. Thanks to Fiona for reminding me to share this with you all. haha You guys do your best to keep me on my toes! haha http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ There is a lot of free information on this website. Look down the left side, and the right side for the clickable links.



A New Year's Gift from ScotlandsPeople!
For seven days only the Catholic Parish Register indexes are free to search* on ScotlandsPeople! You can explore the indexes for Catholic Births, Marriages, Deaths and Other Events for free from now until 9 January at 23:59 GMT.
*Indexes for Catholic Parish Registers are free to search from 3 January until 9 January 2016 at 23:59 GMT, and 1 credit per page of 25 index results thereafter. Images are chargeable and can be viewed for 5 credits per record.


Cheers,
Pat

International Classification of Diseases

Thanks to my good friend Shannon Cherkowski for this. Sometimes we find a cause of death, but have no clue what the word or term means. Here's help http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/

My paternal great grandfather's death registration shows he died after four days of laryngitis. Four days? Really? Obviously every time I get a sore throat, never mind laryngitis, I start to worry. Lol. I was at a genealogy conference some time ago where there was a Doctor giving a session on just these type of things. So I asked. Turns out it was probably diphtheria that killed my David GILMOUR in Kilwinning Ayrshire Scotland 1903. I like that so much better than death by laryngitis.

BTW if anyone is in need of an excellent researcher specializing in adoptions, Shannon Cherkowski is your girl. She has a lengthy list of successes. Ask me for her contact info.


Cheers,
Pat

Quebec Land Petitions, 1764 - 1841

Properly called Lower Canada, rather than Quebec, Library Archives Canada has great information as well as a searchable database ... FREE. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-lower-canada-1764-1841/Pages/land-petitions-lower-canada.aspx


Cheers,
Pat

Mennonite/Doukhobor/English Ancestors?

Library Archives Canada posted this on Mennonites, and if you scroll down you'll see more information for those with Doukhobor, English or German ancestors. http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/07/29/do-you-have-mennonite-ancestors/


Cheers,
Pat

Saturday, January 2, 2016

No One Wants Your Genealogy Research?

Isn't that just the saddest thing? But it's a reality many of us face. And we've all put in way too much effort, and dollars, to think of it ending up in the burning barrel. Here's what Lorine McGinnis Shulze from the Olive Tree Genealogy website has done. http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/2015/09/the-problem-of-family-not-wanting-your.html#ixzz3vuWapHYj

If you have any other ideas, *please* let me know! We need some creative solutions, or at least ideas. It's a big problem.


Cheers,
Pat

Xmas & New Years

Sorry folks. We've been down with some sort of illness over Christmas and longer, but finally starting to feel better now! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2016.

I'm really interested in where readers of this blog reside. If you'd just plug that info into the 'comments' which is represented by the little envelope below this posting that would be awesome. Or you can always email me pryan@sasktel.net OR just write in the Comment box. Your email address will NOT show up or be published so you're anonymity is safe.

We are now packing up for our winter get-away, but this year not to somewhere hot thanks to the loonie loonie. I promise to get back to some sort of schedule by mid January.


Cheers,
Pat