Fire Prevention Week

Oct 6-12 is Fire Prevention Week. 

Fire Prevention

When a residential or business fire occurs it is not only firemen that get involved, but insurance people and damage inspectors.

My daughter is a journeyman carpenter and at a renovation company she once worked for she would inspect damage and make reports on what needed to be done and the company would run the cost to make renovations or repairs.

When he retired from the RCMP after 10 years of service, my father-in-law Al Nolin became an insurance adjuster, investigating fire and fire-related losses. 

The Canadian Fire Underwriters' Association would hold meetings with representatives of the insurance companies to discuss insurance legislation and prevention measures.

Some of the proceedings of a Fire Insurance Company will give a list of claims..

Beaver and Toronto Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Mar 1871

Also reports of local fire departments may have a list of fires and alarms, like this with date, place, owner and cause...

Boston Fire Department - Annual Report 1884 pg.11

 Many people and companies have suffered losses due to forest and bush fires.

Forest fires relief fund1886, Victoria Australia, pg.13

When I lived in Quebec our town had a "Centre de Dépannage" (or help center) where people could donate clothes and household items for victims of fire, flood etc. People and companies near and far feel compelled to help or donate when fire disasters strike.  

These days after a disastrous fire a go-fund-me page might be set up. Regardless of how it's done, a cry for help would go out for donations large and small to a fire relief fund. 

Northern Ontario Fire of 1911 Relief Fund Subscriptions

Check your local library for fire department and relief fund reports, and local insurance company reports of claims. There may also be directories of insurance companies.

Join in Fire Prevention Week activities in your community. 

Relevant Links

Insurance Society and Firemen’s Review

Proceedings of the Canadian Fire Underwriters' Association in Montreal and Toronto

Proceedings of the Fire Marshals' Association of North America

Proceedings at the second annual meeting of the Beaver and Toronto Mutual Fire Insurance Company, held March 21-23, 1871 - claims

Boston Fire Department, Annual Reports

Report of the Fire Department of the City of New York

Forest fires in Canada, 1914-15-16

Report of the Northern Ontario Fire Relief Committee : re administration of funds subscribed for relief of sufferers in fire in Northern Ontario July 1911

The Weekly Underwriter, NY

National Fire Prevention Association USA

The Insurance Directory And Year Book 1939 London

American underwriter's manual and insurance directory for 1862-3

Related Posts

Where's the Fire 
Insurance

The Blackouts - RCAF Entertainment Group

The July/August 2019 issue of the Canadian Legion Magazine had an interesting article about an RCAF entertainment group of the Second World War called The Blackouts. The group was the brainchild of Wing Commander David Edward MacKell, a veteran of the RCAF of the First World War. The group started with a show in Ottawa, then toured remote Canadian bases in Western Canada. On 25 November 1943 the group sailed on a troopship from Halifax and took their show overseas to perform for Canadian, British and American troops. 

There is a bit about them at The Canadian War Museum with images of posters.

RCAF Blackouts of 1943 Entertainment Poster

© Canadian War Museum

The names of members are listed on the CWM website.

The Legion Magazine has a few photos. You may find more photos in books about troop entertainment of WWII at your library.

Relevant Links

Legion Magazine

Canadian War Museum

A Newfoundland Discovery in Devon

I haven't been posting lately because I'm finally getting around to starting on those projects I've had in my head for a long time.

One of the two projects I'm going back and forth with is going through all the BMD registers for the little village where my King ancestors lived. The first register starts in 1559, and of course is in tiny neat-ish fading writing, and in Latin. 

I think the second entry "might" be one of mine, it was spelled Kinge or Kynge early on.

So saving all these early ones for another day, I started on the second book (starting 1653 by the old calendar) and it's a little easier on the eyes. Plus it's in English. I'm transcribing all the King names onto a spreadsheet. I only have to do baptisms before 1740, marriages before 1693 and burial before 1699. The ones after those dates were already transcribed, in alphabetic order, and I can just copy and paste the blocks of King names into my spreadsheets. If I find one I need I always check it in the register to be sure it was transcribed correctly. This helps me straighten out who's who with all the Thomas, John and Mary names.

So I'm looking at baptisms for the village of Loddiswell in Devon, England. I've recorded from 1653 and I'm up to 1696. The writing on this page is erratic, from tiny to big, faded to clear, and I came across this clear entry...

Nov 30 was baptized Thomas Robings being then about nine years old who was born in New Found Land Poor (?)

I don't know if there's family that stayed in Canada or they all went back to England, but there you go... a gem for someone to find someday. 

The Nile Voyageurs - First Canadian Contingent to Serve Overseas

The British were in Egypt and the Sudan because of the Suez Canal. British general Charles Gordon was in the service of the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan in 1873 and later became the Governor General of Sudan. He returned to England in 1880. 

A major revolt broke out in Sudan, led by a Muslim religious Mahdi. In early 1884 General Gordon was sent to Khartoum to evacuate and accompany loyal soldiers and civilians. After evacuating about 2500 people, he disobeyed orders and kept a small band of soldiers and non-military men and they became besieged by the Mahdi's forces.

Journals of General Gordon

A rescue mission was planned and General Garnet Wolseley was put in charge. Besides seeing action in Crimea and Africa, he was involved in the Red River Rebellion, leading British soldiers and Canadian militia. Wolseley recruited Canadians, not so much because they could fight, but because they were skilled at navigating dangerous river waters. Perfect for traveling up the Nile to reach Khartoum. 

In a matter of just 24 days Wolseley recruited guides, boatmen and lumbermen from all across Canada... English and Scottish, French, Métis and Aboriginals ...and were named the Nile Voyageurs. Their monthly wages were about $40 for boatmen and $75 for foremen. 

List of Nile Voyageur officers, and men by division

There is a book called Records of the Nile Voyageurs 1884-1885 with more complete info, some images and lists of men, at Internet Archive. It is only available to borrow for 2 weeks (online or download) and you must register for free and login.  Some *men re-enlisted, see page 176 for contract. *Note that the book is still under copyright.

They gathered in Montreal from whence they sailed 14 September 1884, bound for Egypt, arriving on October 7th.

Nile Expedition

The expedition did not make it in time to save General Gordon, and were themselves attacked. There is a † beside names of those men that died. Money was sent to their families. If deceased left a widow or widowed mother special grants were made.



Relevant Links

List of Officers and Men of Nile Voyageurs, Dominion Annual Register and Review 1884

Records of the Nile Voyageurs, 1884-1885 (borrow)

Our Caughnawagas in Egypt

Historical Plaque in Ottawa

War Time Newsreels

Updated from Dec 2015

Those with ancestors that were in one of the World Wars may be interested in watching some Canadian Army Newsreels that are being uploaded to Library and Archives Canada's YouTube channel.

Our ancestors that were at home during the wars would have watched the newsreels in the movie theaters. 

The Canadian Army Newsreels were 10 minute films made by the Canadian Film and Photo Unit who were trained in combat the same as all soldiers. The films were distributed each week to the Canadian troops, the National Film Board and Canadian, British and American newsreel companies.

Canadian Army Newsreel No 1 (1942)

At Internet Archive there are 266 newsreels of different countries, including Britain, America, Australia, Japan and Italy.  Use the index on the right to find the ones you want.

Will you see your ancestor in one of these films?



Relevant Links

Canadian Army SWW Newsreels

Canadian Army FWW Newsreels

British War Reels

German WWII Newsreels

WWII Newsreels at Internet Archive

Ploughing Match

Ploughing Matches were contests between local farmers to see who was the best ploughman. Whether pulled by oxen, horse, steam or tractor, the matches have been a much anticipated event for centuries. 

The Australasian Pastoralists' Review Feb 1894, pg 612 (48)

They were usually held on a lucky local farmer's field. Notices of the matches for the upcoming season were posted in papers and agricultural journals.

Lower Canada Agriculturist, Oct 1866, pg.2

The rules are listed on the next page.

In 1871 the Stalmine Ploughing Association held their annual match on Grange Farm occupied by my 3x great uncle James Singleton.

Ploughing Match, Stalmine Lancashire, 1871

Results of ploughing matches were posted in the local newspapers, agricutural journals, state board of agriculture reports, or even sessional papers. Points were awarded for straightness and neatness. 

My Carter and Singleton ancestors often placed in the Lancashire matches, as did my Bruce ancestors in the Aberdeenshire matches. Robert Bruce, son of my 3x great grandfather of Upper Knaven, Fyvie attended the match in Methlic and came in 4th.

Aberdeen Journal, 14 Jan 1852

Ploughing matches have today gone international and become big exhibitions including other events. There are classes for horse-drawn and tractor pulled ploughs.

Richmond Ploughing Match, page 3, Sherbrooke Record, 1 Oct 1979

Local jewelers, silversmiths or goldsmiths were given the task of making medals to give to the prize winners. 

Sessional Papers of Ontario 1895, pg.71-72

Relevant links


Lower Canada Agriculturist

Manitoba ploughing match prize winners 1915

Ontario provincial ploughing matches 1894 winners

New Brunswick ploughing match winners 1884

Quebec ploughing matches by parish, 1880

Agricultural journal and transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society 1851

Agricultural journal of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society 1848-1852

Wentworth Pioneer Ploughing Club, Ontario

The Australasian pastoralists' review 1894, mark 48

Back to Kapunda, September 17 to 24, 1927 : official souvenir pg 42, mark 44

State Board of Agriculture reports

Names of those who died from Yellow Fever in 1820

In 1820 there was an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Savannah Georgia, taking over 700 lives, including two doctors that were tending to the sick.

I left out "Savannah Georgia" from the post title for a good reason. These people that died in Savannah were not only from Georgia, but also from other states and other countries, including Canada, the UK and Germany.

I recently came across this book...

An official register of the deaths which occurred among the white population in the city of Savannah, during the extraordinary season of sickness and mortality which prevailed in the summer and fall months of the year 1820. To which is annexed a list of the persons who died out of the city, after retreating from it. 

The order is by date of burial, not by name. You can search for a name in the search box. When there is no cause of death it was the Fever. When there is no age it's because it was unknown or under two years of age.

Relevant links

Register of deaths in Savannah GA in 1820

Observations upon the autumnal fevers of Savannah

History of yellow fever

Agricultural Delegates From UK to Canada

In 1879 the Honorable J H Pope, the Agriculture Minister of Canada, invited tenant farmers' delegates from the UK to visit the Dominion of Canada for the purpose of examining its resources, and reporting back to their group what farming is like, encouraging tenant farmers to immigrate to Canada.

The delegates then reported back to their constituents, and these reports were published and handed in to the Department of Agriculture of Canada.

I found this while researching my Bruce family of Aberdeenshire. There is a young farmer named James Bruce from Gartly that was chosen as a delegate, my line were from Fyvie. 

Tenant farmer delegates

James Bruce reports on the cost of a farm and running it in the good Ontario neighbourhood of Guelph.

A farm in Guelph

Conclusions of delegate Colonel Francis Fane who toured Canada in 1890

Visit of tenant farmers 1890, page 54

It seems not all delegates took their task seriously and made headlines as far away as Australia!

But you can see from the report that most did a thorough job of it. The reports of later visits have illustrations.

Relevant Links

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates on the Dominion of Canada 1879

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates and other informations on Manitoba North-west Territory and other parts of the Dominion of Canada 1879

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates on the Dominion of Canada, 1880 visit

The Visit of the tenant-farmer delegates to Canada in 1890,incl Maritimes

Scotch tenant-farmers visit to Canada in 1893

An Irish agricultural delegate on the agricultural resources of Canada 1893

Welsh tenant-farmers on the agricultural resources of Canada 1893

  

Maximizing Your Search in the Canadiana Collection - Part I

When searching the now free Canadiana website, there are three main areas to explore. Canadiana Online, Heritage and Early Canadiana.  Heritage is more genealogy specific and is covered by Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy.


Here we will talk about Canadiana Online. This includes three sections : monographs; series...periodicals, annuals and newspapers; and government publications. 

If your ancestors were part of a group (political, religious, trades, social, etc) you may find them mentioned in a journal published by that group, as they often included a Personals column or a list of members or subscribers. I previously found a relative in the Canadian Militia Gazette.

You can type your ancestor name in the search box at the top and you may get way too many results to check. I typed my surname Seale and got 4695 results. Hmmmm. 

Besides getting too many results, your ancestor name may not be recognized in some cases. My Seale surname often gets read as scale or "the seal of", and my Mavor surname gets read as the mayor. That makes for many useless results. But remember, when you're looking for something specific you often come across a surprise!

I found this publication, The Civilian, and thought one or two of my people should be mentioned in an issue as they were civil servants.

The Civilian was a fortnightly journal devoted to the interests of the Civil Service of Canada. It was published from 1908 to 1921, but not by the government so it's under series, not government publications. We will use this as an example of how to navigate.

The Civilian was on the 7th page of results. I click on it and get that journal. It opens on page 279, the first page of that issue... no mention of Seale. The matching result is supposedly on page 282, which I click on and still no Seale... it's "scale". 

Next I click on the name of the journal, circled in red above, and that gives me all the issues of The Civilian. At the top left it says there are 300 available issues. If you click on the About tab, it gives info on this journal in the notes... range of dates published, any errors or special issues, etc. 

I type Seale in the search again and it gives me all the issues with their page match.

This gives me a more manageable 18 results. I know my great grand uncle was a civil servant and died in March, buried in April in 1921. There are issues for this period. So I clicked on the April 1921 issue and it opens on the first page of that issue by default, but there is a matching result on page 168. Click on that link...

Whoohoo... it's actually Seale this time and Williams death notice is there. I copy the URL and add it to the Web Link section in the Resources column on his profile page of my Ancestry tree. 

Other results are City of Kingston Directories (including Barriefield where my Seales lived) and I found the Quebec Seales in military journals, but there was a surprise result. There are some Seales on the Voter's List of the Town of Gananoque!?!

On the top left it says there are three images that match. There is Robert who is a blacksmith, Ann who is a widow, and on the third image are John A and James.  None of these people are in my Seale family, but Gananoque is not far from where they lived.This gives me another path to research as most Seales I have come across in Canada are from the same big family in Laois, Ireland.

You don't have to search by ancestor name. Try searching by the place your ancestor lived, by their trade, or by a society they may have belonged to. When I searched Waterville one result was a Waterville Cookbook, with some submissions by relatives.

You will find many newspapers and journals, in several languages, in this collection that you won't find anywhere else. At the Online Collection page, instead of typing a name in the search scroll down to the Series section and click browse this collection. 

When you find one that interests you click on it, then click on its name at the top left to learn more about that publication and the issue dates available. Then you can do a name or place search from there. 

You can narrow your search by changing the date range on the left to dates your ancestor was there. Also use the other filters... search in text, language, which collection. 

UPDATE:

I was doing a search today and now discovered can also use the minus sign in your search.  That will help filter your results. When you have many results for the same source, like directory, you can search "name -directory" . Another frequent flyer is "Bill: an act..." so you can filter it out also by searching "name -directory -bill". Seems like you can keep adding minus keywords to pare down your results. Similarly the plus sign works so you can search "name +place -directory". But the plus doesn't work as well.

Happy hunting!

Relevant links

Canadiana Online

Related Post

Maximizing a Search in the Canadiana Collection - Part II

Finding an Ancestor in Reports of Commissioners

A Commission, or Royal Commission, is a formal public inquiry created by the government. A commission would be put together to look into issues of importance and usually controversy. Many inquiries can last years, depending on the issue, while the commissioners study causes and effects. The findings are then put into a public report.

So, you ask yourself what this could have to do with genealogy? 
Answer....names, names, names!

On wikipedia there is a list of Royal Commissions of the commonwealth by country. Obviously not all commission reports have lists of names, like the Report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital in Canada which discusses solutions to some labour issues, but gives salaries for different occupations by province.         

I have come across a few where you may find mention of your ancestors. 
The Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (Canada) of 1885 contains the report and evidence, plus further along, tables of names.

Commission on Chinese Immigration 1885, pg 389

For Queensland, the Royal Commission appointed to Inquire into the Working of the Pearl-shell and Beche-de-mer Industries of 1908 has names of pearl divers and merchants. 

Royal Commission Pearl Industry 1908, pg 6 

  

Royal Commission on Prisons in Ireland was formed in 1882. The report, vol 1, gives names of medical officers...

Royal Commission on Irish Prisons, Vol 1, pg 180

... but most people, prisoners and prison officers alike are mentioned by their initials only. Return of deaths gives first name and last initial...

Return of deaths, pg 248

Two other commissions worth noting are the 1842 Royal Commission on Children's Employment, which was a three year investigation into the working conditions for children in mines and factories in the UK. Lace schools were very common, usually a room in a woman's cottage where she taught lace-making to young children.

Lace schools

  

There are statements from child workers throughout the report.

Also the 1833 Report of Commissioners inquiring into labour in factories.

Spinners and dressers examined by Dr Barry, Glasgow 1833

Married women in New Lanark factory and number of their children 1833

At Canadiana Online search "Royal Commission", and to narrow down the search from over 6000 results you can add other keywords or change the search in field from everything to title.

At HathiTrust search Report of Commissions. You can also narrow the search by adding a keyword.

At Internet Archive (many for Ireland) and Google Books search Royal Commission and Report of Commissioners.