Genealogists suffer from equal parts insatiable curiosity and squirrel syndrome. I can't now recall why I picked up "A PioneerGentlewoman in British Columbia," but it wasn't for this purpose. As soon as I read Susan's account of her journey, I dropped the bio and picked up my computer. With this post, I gained insights about possible British and European emigration routes to western Canada.
It’s Asian History Month
This month is stuffed with events, presentations, talks, and webinars about Asian history. Here's what's on at Past-Presence. On Facebook in Genealogy for Asian Canadians, I've posted a new Chinese Immigration No. 9 tool to help us find native-born Chinese Canadians, Port of Vancouver, 1939-1952, created by Gordon Fulton On Instagram, you'll see a SK… Continue reading It’s Asian History Month
How to navigate Order-in-Council records part 3: online at Ancestry
As Joanna said, Ancestry's "Canada, Immigrants Approved in Orders in Council, 1929-1960" collection contains the names of twenty thousand sponsors and sixty thousand immigrants 1930-1960. It's a rich source of genealogical information for this period, and unusual for Canada, relatively recent information. If your family sponsored a family to come to Canada, you too might find their records here.
How to navigate Order-in-Council records part 2: online at LAC
It's surprising to see how much hand's on work the Privy Council did with regards the lives of ordinary Canadians. Exploring OIC records has given me insights into the thinking of the men at the centre of power: how laws are formulated and how they are managed. It's the paperwork that creates unintended genealogical records. I have a passion for exploring Chinese Canadian history but OIC records included a wide swath of the population, from Armenians to Yugoslavians.
It’s Lunar New Year – what is your sign? (2024)
I wrote this post in honour of Lunar New Year and the changing of the zodiac from Rabbit to Dragon. When I was growing up, deriving the date for Lunar New Year (LNY) was akin to dark magic. We never understood when it was, and my grandparents kept track by consulting their Chinese lunisolar calendar. They also followed it for their birthdays, so we had three important events we couldn't understand. Here's is help in understanding the Lunar New Year, its zodiac, and capped with a story about the Chinese Mother of Dragons - Lung Mo.
How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
In the next posts I will explain Order-in-Council records: what they are and how to find them. This post explains researching at the national archives in Ottawa, Ontario. If you'd like to start with the first one, see "Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada - a rare head tax refund tale using OIC… Continue reading How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada – a rare head tax refund tale using OIC records
The paying of head taxes was front page news but the refunding of head taxes was shrouded in murk. Even today, finding the supporting documentation at the national archives with the friendly assistance of reference archivists and librarians was barely doable.
Reflecting on 2023
2023 is roaring to a close. If you're like me, you're simultaneously trying to relax while also checking off everything on your to do list. (How's that working out for you? :-)) I can barely wrap my head around what our community has accomplished this year. We have a new, permanent, dedicated museum. New records… Continue reading Reflecting on 2023
Why do we care about the C.I.9s? – a guest post by Robert Louie
In this post I am delighted to share an essay by Robert Louie where he talks about the C.I.9 Transcription Project, a project by a group of community historians in my group Genealogy for Asian Canadians.
New releases of C.I.9s for Vancouver and Victoria – 2023
We began 2023 with about forty-eight thousand C.I.9s and we end with almost double. The questions that come up for me are: Is this it? Do we have all the C.I.9s now?