Feedspot All Genealogy Blogs  A bench with flowers upon which to sit and read blogs ©Penny Allen A list of the top 10 (+/-) Genealogy blogs - by country  - according to Feedspot accessed 07 Feb. 2024 If you haven't used Feedspot, it's a portal to read blogs that you subscribe to in one go, rather than searching for them and trying to stay updated. Every time a new post is published, it's populated into your feed. This is their ranking system:  Relevancy  Industry blogs (those not favoring a specific brand) are given higher rank than blogs by individua ..read more

November 21, 1950 A Disastrous Accident  INTRODUCTION: on the 21st November 1950, there was a terrible train accident which occurred across the border of B.C. and between Canoe River near Valemount. The Canadian National train was heading west. It's destination was the west coast ports where the passengers would embark on ships to the Far East. These military volunteers were being sent by the government of Canada to take part in the Korean war which was intended to support the United Nations efforts to quell another world war.  Photo Credit: RCA Museum, Shilo, Manitoba https ..read more

My Church Ancestor - one of my favourites My church ancestor was a missionary in China and it is proving to be an interesting research project. On the back of a picture in our family archive there is a note: 'our apartment in Shanghai.' (The other artefact is a wedding announcement from a Chinese student - which I will report on another time.)  Unfortunately, there aren't any names on the back of this photograph, nor is there any indication where the apartment is in Shanghai. However, I am able to identify the person as we have other pictures of him.  The Han Yoh Bible School ..read more

When researching your 'modern' military families, have you thought of searching for burials in the places where they were stationed?     Our military family was stationed at a number of places in Canada and Europe, and my sister remembers going to a friend's house when we were overseas and seeing a box on the mantel asked what it was for. Well, perhaps you can fill in the blanks, but sadly, her friend's sister died of cancer while overseas and they were going to take her home to be buried in Canada.      Such a stark reminder that tragedies happened to soldi ..read more

The intent of Sunday Morning Genealogy is to gather together finds of unique and interesting genealogy, local history and history news from far and wide, but there may be one or two off topic items that sneak in... Finding an 1838 Will in the UK National Archives collection (one of my articles) Pull up a chair, a cuppa, or a cappuccino, have a quick read of some interesting bits I've found over the past while. I hope this little effort recharges you for the research week ahead. In no certain order . . .  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  The best guide to causes ..read more

Are you a keen genealogist? Looking for an opportunity to share your knowledge? Helping a genealogist at my Canadian stand at the  Birmingham Who Do You Think You Are Show in 2017.  The organizers at the Ontario Ancestors Virtual Conference invite all interested speakers to apply via the online entry form  : https://conference2022.ogs.on.ca/ June 24- 26, 2022 The conference theme is The Past, The Present and the Future. This is quite a broad topic and is sure to entice those with a broad range of skills. From the website:  "Topics that will be considered include but ..read more

Excuse me while I have a little rant about digitizing collections.  Well, ok, maybe not a rant, but it constantly amazes me when genealogists complain about not having free and instant online access to records. It takes time. Lots of time. And lots of money. From conception to implementation, possibly up to 4 years go by before we as researchers can see these records. So many people involved, and so many months of planning.  Photo taken by Penny - archive tour Behind the scenes, a project comes along  such as the one developed by the iSchool at the Universi ..read more

Pull up a chair, a cuppa, or a cappuccino, have a quick read of some interesting bits I've found over the past week or so. Will hopefully recharge you for the week ahead. One of my World War Two blog posts about a unique resource I found on Peel's Prairie Provinces - a database of online books and journals, particularly strong in resources for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Saskatchewan World War II Biographies - lots of photos! The intent of Sunday Morning Genealogy is to gather together my finds of unique and interesting genealogy, local history and history news from far and w ..read more

 Virtual genealogy conferences have seemingly taken over the air waves (for the time being anyways). But  WHY do virtual Genealogy shows in the UK seem to have little Canadian content?  The lack of Canadian talks strikes me strange as a large percentage of Britons have an ancestor who went to North America at one point or another looking for better opportunities. So if those genealogy researchers are looking for help in researching their ancestors who travelled across the oceans, where is the content?  See end of this article for Canadian speakers at UK conferences To ..read more

Pull up a chair, a cuppa, or a cappuccino, have a quick read of some interesting bits I've found over the past week. Will hopefully recharge you for the week ahead. From the UK to Canada Genealogy Blog Archive English Families to Steinbach Manitoba The purpose of this post and planned future posts is to promote blogs about genealogy, local history, history in general, far and wide, but there may be one or two off topic items that sneak in... In no certain order . . . . _________________________________ The Families of Old Canada - Dukesang Wong, Chue ah Louie and Yip-Sang/   ..read more