After recovering from the emotional roller-coaster of testing, it was wonderful to receive dozens of congratulatory messages. I am proud to be the second genealogist - and first Canadian - to accredit in the Canada Western Provinces region.
Category: Canadian Genealogy
Why gratitude matters: Thanksgiving insights
To me, Thanksgiving is synonymous with gratitude. Gratitude is a personal practise. Years ago I wrote a weekly blog post about gratefulness - forty-eight essays in total. The first topics came easily: they were the things I loved without complication, from my red Miata to my tabby cat. I explored bathrooms, bookstores, booze, lying, and smoking. Over the months, I began to see things differently - to see positives even in despair. Eventually I began to reconsider my part in bad breakups, family dynamics, and life-threatening encounters. Gratitude is the antidote to the thiefs of joy: envy, grudge-keeping, regret, and toxicity. In addition, gratitude has a host of benefits from reduced blood pressure inflammation, and stress, to increased humility and happiness.
How to use AI to illustrate family history
I'd like to offer some philosophical thoughts on AI. I believe AI is as big a change to our world as the invention of the internet. Love it or hate it, it is already changing everything. I'm as nervous as the next person about the downsides (ex: deepfakes), but here's the thing: I'm not going to get less nervous by avoiding it. I believe it is incumbent on all of us, and especially genealogy professionals, to be upfront about how we are using AI in our work. If we're not sure if we are using AI, it's up to us to figure out how AI is a part of our workflow, and identify it as such.
Canada Day reflections: on accrediting, Western Canadian genealogy, and diverse ideas for celebrating
In the past four years, the accrediting process has challenged me to the limits. My questions - where are our records, who or what created them, and how can they be used for genealogy - are the foundations of my work. Digital records are fabulous. More is coming online every day. All that is true, and yet I'd estimate for every record online, there are nine that are not. With the greatest respect, I'd say Canada funds its archives minimally. We in Western Canada, with our challenges of privacy and recency, need to understand our archives, because not every archive can afford subject matter experts. To answer the question of where are the records, I have made visiting archives a priority.
Exploring the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives with the surprisingly detailed story of Thomas Thomas (1766-1828), governor of HBC
In this post I want to share both what it's like to research at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg, and the story of one of those finds. It's too easy in family research to want to start with the birth of one's ancestor and never stop researching. With Thomas Thomas, chief factor and governor of HBC, the rich resources necessitated some hard decisions...
Western Canadian migration before the CPR: Tracing the voyage of the Princess Royal, London to Fort Victoria (1858-59)
Before the CPR was completed, the most efficient travel across pre-Confederation Canada was by water. In this post I've focused on the HBC Princess Royal. Fifty HBC ships - barques, brigs, frigates, schooners, sidewheelers, sloops, steamships - served the Pacific Northwest 1822-1918 beginning with the brig charter Lively (1822-24). The HBC records provide a glimpse at the many types of ships settlers took to and from the Pacific Northwest.
Western Canadian migration before the CPR: the 1860 voyage of Susan Moir Allison
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.
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.
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