A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the YouTube channel The Woodland Escape. It features Peter Kelly, a reenactor for pioneer life in the 1800s, his wife Catherine Wolfe behind the camera, and their son Shane Kelly as producer and editor. Most of the shows I’ve seen like this are usually located in the United States. However, The Woodland Escape is made by Canadians, and it’s produced in Ontario. I’ve watched several episodes so far. The first one was released in October 2020, so it’s still relatively young. The channel follows Peter as he and his wife construct a small log cabin that the averag ..read more

Centuries ago, folks in Scotland bought land in New Scotland and gained a title during the Baronet Order era. This month, this woman (a descendant of Alexander McDonald) in New Scotland bought a plot of land in Scotland and became a Lady. How did I do it? Why did I do it? I posted the story about how I became Lady Diane McGyver on the website that hosts my works of fiction. Check it out here: Introducing Lady Diane McGyver ..read more

During this time of uncertainty, newspapers are struggling and some are halting publishing temporarily. As such, Roots to the Past has been put on hold. Whether it will be resurrected after the pandemic is over is uncertain. Take care. Be safe. We will see this through ..read more

In 2008, I visited Rose Blanche, Newfoundland, and its historical lighthouse. I created a YouTube video to share the pictures I took and history I learned along the trail. The video is called Rose Blanche Lighthouse, Newfoundland. The stone lighthouse has been keeping mariners safe since 1873. The lighting apparatus was designed by D & T Stevenson, Lighthouse Engineers in Edinburgh, Scotland ..read more

In early July, I visited the Milford Cemetery in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada, twice to capture footage of the grounds and the headstones. I created a video tour of those visits and posted it to YouTube. The first part of the video is a musical tour and then I read a few headstones and provide a little extra information about the people buried there. The video can be watched on YouTube ..read more

Life is always changing, faster now it seems since technology is setting the pace. At one time, Roots to the Past appeared in 13 newspapers across Atlantic Canada. In its hay days, it appeared in – to name a few – The Western Star (Corner Brook, NL), Journal-Pioneer (Summerside, PEI), The Daily News (Halifax, NS) and The Kings County Record (Sussex, NB). Nowadays, readers find it in only two newspapers: The Lunenburg County Progress Bulletin (Wednesday) and The Citizen, Amherst (Saturday). Before time and further changes cause the disappearance of the column in print newspapers, I started a ne ..read more

The following column appeared in newspapers in November 2016. Catholic Irish and Protestant Irish in Canada Diana Tibert I haven’t studied any religion in depth. I’m more of a browser, reading bits and pieces of various religions and cults that have been created over the centuries to try to understand why people lived the way they did. With this curiosity, I began reading about the religions that separated the Irish. During most of my early life, I heard news reports about Catholics and Protestants battling in Northern Ireland. When I was younger, I thought they were stories from long ago beca ..read more

Library and Archives Canada Blog As of today, 568,203 of 640,000 files are available online in our Personnel Records of the First World War database. Please visit the Digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Service Files page for more details on the digitization project. Library and Archives Canada is digitizing the service files systematically, from box 1 to box 10686, which roughly corresponds to alphabetical order. Please note that over the years, the content of some boxes has had to be moved and, you might find that the file you want, with a surname that is supposed to have be ..read more