Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities

Since many of the members of our hobby come from the “senior” sections of society, we probably have more than our share of mobility and other health issues. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 is intended to ensure that all Ontarians, no matter what their level of ability, are able to receive goods and services in a manner that respects their dignity and independence. The Act has been in place for several years but not-for-profits organization like OGS and its branches, must be in compliance by 1 January 2012.

OGS will be providing training to all persons who are providing services to the public in the name of OGS. This includes not only the OGS Board of Directors and office staff but also Branch Executives and other volunteers who meet the public in our name. This training will be rolled out later this fall.  The training is still being refined but should include using the resources to be found in the OGS Member’s Only area and reading various documents that are available from the Government of Ontario. Others can find information at http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/accessibility/index.aspx. By completing this training OGS can ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunity to access our goods and services.

In most cases, Ottawa Branch uses facilities such as Library and Archives Canada and the new City of Ottawa Archives, so we have been in compliance with the Act or similar federal regulations for some time. Volunteers at the old City Archives took some training there and the new volunteers will soon get the opportunity. Members and non-members will benefit from the access to genealogical resources.

Timeline Sept 28 to Oct 1

Sept 28
1066  William the Conquerer, the Duke of Normandy, invaded England.
1781  American forces, backed by a French fleet, began the siege of Yorktown Heights, VA, during the Revolutionary War.
1828  St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Bytown was formally opened by the Rev. John Machan of Kingston.
1960  The Skyway Bridge between Prescott and Ogdensburg, NY, was opened.
1972  At Moscow in the final minute of the last game of the Team Canada-USSR series, Paul Henderson of Toronto scored the winning goal.

Sept 29
1793  John Graves Simcoe reached Lac Au Claire and renamed it Lake Simcoe in memory of his father.
1827  The ceremony of laying the Rideau Canal two tonne cornerstone at Entrance Bay was presided over by Gov. General Lord Dalhousie.
1878  The Baptist Tabernacle (First Baptist Church), at Laurier and Elgin streets in Ottawa, held its opening service.
1935  Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock singer and musician, was born.

Sept 30
1760  Major Robert Rogers, a famous American frontier soldier, arrived at Fort Toronto. His mission was to capture French posts on the western frontier.
1846  Ether was used as an anesthetic for the first time, at the office of Boston dentist William Morton.
1871  British garrisons throughout Canada were called home to be replaced by Canadian militia.

Oct 1
1884  The first women were admitted to University College, University of Toronto.
1908  Henry Ford introduced the Model T auto to the market. Each car cost $825.
1961  The Canadian Television Network (CTV) was inaugurated.
1962  Johnny Carson debuted as regular host of NBC's "Tonight" show.

Library and Archives Canada digitizes past issues of the Canada Gazette

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) commemorates the 170th anniversary of the Canada
Gazette by making accessible the digitized back issues, from 1841 to 1997, on its website dedicated to this official publication.

Often referred to as “the official newspaper of the Government of Canada,” the Canada Gazette has been an important instrument in the Canadian democratic process for 170 years. It has informed Canadians of the operations of government and encouraged them to participate in the legislative process.

See the announcement at:  http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-new/013-541-e.html

Timeline Sept 25 to 27

Sept 25
1826  John By Burrows became the first white child born at Bytown.
1888  The Ottawa Exhibition opened for the first time.
1892  Gregory Clark, newspaper man and humorist, was born in Toronto.
1932  Glen Gould, child prodigy pianist, was born in Toronto.
1956  The first trans-Atlantic telephone cable went into service

Sept 26
1777  British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
1969  The Centennial Centre of Science and Technology now known as the Ontario Science Centre, was opened in Toronto.

Sept 27
1779  John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.
1825  The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

Timeline Sept 21 to 24

Sept 21
1822  Dr. Solomon Jones, builder in 1921 of "Old Homewood" near Maitland, and one of the first doctors to practice in Upper Canada, died.
1852  Mayor Henry J Friel's request to the Executive Council that Bytown be incorporated as a city and named Ottawa was accepted.
1902  Howie Morenz, named Canada's hockey played of the half-century in a 1950 Canadian Press poll, was born in Mitchell.

Sept 22
1930  The House of Commons passed the Unemployment Relief Bill.

Sept 23
1787  Sir John Johnson concluded a treaty with chiefs of the Mississauga Indians by which they ceded lands extending westward from the Bay of Quinte to the Etobicoke River.
1870  The cornerstone of a new Carleton County courthouse on Nicholas Street in Ottawa was laid by the grandmaster of the Canadian Masons.

Sept 24
1905  James Henry Fleming place a band on the leg of a robin in his garden at Toronto. This was the first wild bird in Canada to be marked with a numbered and recorded band.
1962  The Garden of the Provinces was opened at Ottawa by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

Timeline Sept 18 to 20

Sept 18
1679  LaSalle sent his ship Griffon, laden with furs from present-day Green Bay area of Wisconsin to Niagara. It was never seen again. The loss of the ship remained a mystery for 200 years until the wreckage of an old ship - believed to be the Griffon - was found off Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.
1875  The Supreme Court of Canada was established in Ottawa.
1895  John George Diefenbaker prime minister of Canada from 1957-63, was born in Neustadt.

Sept 19
1891  A tunnel under the St. Clair River, between Windsor and Detroit was opened.
1956  The first Nuclear Power Demonstration Station in Canada, near Ontario Hydro's Des Joachims Generating Station on the Ottawa River, had its official sod turning.
1963  Plans were announced to develop Confederation Square in Ottawa.

Sept 20
1814  American forces burned Colonel Thomas Talbot's mills at Port Talbot.
1828  Hubert Taylor Read, the second Canadian born winner of the Victoria Cross, was born in Perth. He was serving as assistant surgeon with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot during the Sepoy Mutiny in India (1857).

BIFHSGO Family History Conference

This conference in taking place in Ottawa today Saturday and also Sunday.

See the following blogs for comments on the conference.

http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/

http://kippeeb.blogspot.com/

Come on in and visit the Ottawa Branch OGS table in marketplace.

Timeline Sept 15 to 17

Sept 15
1860  Edward, Prince of Wales, visited Niagara Falls where he witnessed a performance by the great French tightrope walker Blondin.
1885  Jumbo, a famous African elephant, was killed by a train in St. Thomas, while touring with the Barnum and Bailey circus.
1941  The British Commonwealth Air Training Program, Clinton Radio School, accepted its first trainees.
1959  General Georges Vanier was appointed Governor General.

Sept 16
1893  Hundreds of thousands of settlers took part in a land run in Oklahoma`s "Cherokee Strip."
1901  The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) began a visit to Canada.
1952  The Boyd gang, who escaped from Don jail in Toronto on September 8, were recaptured in North York after a shootout.

Sept 17
1792  Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe formally opened the first legislature of Upper Canada.
1844  The 74 metres suspension bridge, spanning the Ottawa River at Chaudiere Falls, the first suspension bridge in Canada, was opened for traffic.

The Keffer Essay Writing Contest

The November 1st deadline is fast approaching for entering the 2011 edition of the Annual Keffer Writing Contest.

So if you haven’t entered already, but have been thinking about it, please send your entry (with the subject line,“Keffer Writing Contest”) to gracejewell AT rogers.com before midnight, November 1st.

For the rules of entry into the contest, please refer to page 31 of the August 2011 edition of Families,or visit us online at http://www.ogs.on.ca/home/essay.php.

The three judges have been chosen, and are now awaiting your entries. The winners will be announced at Conference 2012 in Kingston.

The staff of Families would like to see as many members as possible enter the contest, so get that pen to paper, and let your writing talents show through!

Good Luck, and Happy Writing!

Friends of Library and Archives Canada - Annual Giant Used Book Sale

September 16 to 18, 2011

St. Laurent Shopping Centre
1200 St. Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa
Centre Court

Friday, September 16:  09:30am to 9:00pm
Saturday, September 17:  09:30am to 9:00pm
Sunday, September 18:  11:00am to 4:00pm

Service Deterioration at Library and Archives Canada

See  anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com  for information on further service deterioration at Library and Archives Canada.  LAC web site  www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html  What's New September 8th.

Timeline Sept 11 to 14

Sept 11
1814  An American fleet scored a victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812.
1879  The Woodstock College Observatory (earlier known as the Canadian Literary Institute) was opened on college grounds. It had a 20.4 cm refracting telescope, the largest in operation in Canada at the time.
1899  The first automobile on Ottawa streets was driven by Thomas Ahearn at up to 25 km per hour.
1997  Scots voted to create their own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

2001  Terrorist attack on the United States. Canadians came to the aid of thousands of air travelers whose planes were not allowed to land in the USA. Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa includes a 911 Memorial.

Sept 12
1609  English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into the river that bears his name.
1906  A head-on CPR train collision at Azilda killed several people.
1954  "Lassie" made its TV debut on CBS.
1959  "Bonanza" premiered on NBC.

Sept 13 
1882  John R Booth, Ottawa Valley timber magnate, opened his own railway line, The Canada-Atlantic, from Coteau Junction to Ottawa.

Sept 14
1814  Francis Scott Keys wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry Maryland during the War of 1812.
1904  Frank Amyot, six times Canadian singles rowing Champion and Canada's only gold medalist at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, was born.

RIP Elizabeth Stevens Stuart

STUART, Elizabeth Stevens Passed away peacefully at the Township of Osgoode Care Centre on Wednesday, September 7, 2011, in her 105th year. She was the daughter of the late John Cameron Stuart and the late Florence Gertrude Stevens.

Elizabeth's obituary can be found at
http://www.legacy.com/can-ottawa/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=153514177.

She was both the oldest member of the Ottawa Branch Ontario Genealogical Society and the "senior" member with the lowest Branch membership number #28.  She was a charter member of the Ottawa Branch when it was established in 1970."

Timeline Sept 8 to 10

Sept 8
1952  Television broadcasting by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began from Toronto's CBLT station.
1968  The first of 10,000 Czech refugees, who fled from their homeland after the Soviet invasion, arrived in Ontario.

Sept 9
1615  Etienne Burle became the first European to visit the site of modern-day Toronto. He was also probably the first Euorpean to see all of the Great Lakes.
1954  Marilyn Bell of Toronto, aged 16, became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario between Youngstown, New York and Toronto.
1959  It was announced that Canada's first nuclear power station would be built near Kincardine, on Lake Huron.

Sept 10
1813  American ships on Lake Erie under Captain Oliver Perry defeated British ships under Captain Robert Barclay. During the engagement, Perry issued his famous message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
1814  The St. Lawrence, the largest warship built on either side during the War of 1812, was launched at Kingston.
1895  The Sault Ste Marie Canal was opened.

De-Mystifying Lineage Societies Workshop

The Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Sir Guy Carleton Branch of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada are pleased to offer a one-day workshop on De-Mystifying Lineage Societies. This workshop will provide some history on lineage societies, as well as discussion of the resources, hints and techniques for completing successful applications along with an opportunity for research with local experts. Societies highlighted will be the Mayflower Society, Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada and the Ontario Genealogical Society Heritage Societies.

The workshop will be held in the new City of Ottawa Central Archives. Following the presentations, registrants will be able to research in the City Archives Reference Room.

Presentations:  De-Mystifying Lineage Societies: Mike More and Dorothy Meyerhof

                        Researching in Military Records: Glenn Wright

                        Using Ancestry: Lesley Anderson

29 Oct 2011 10am to 5pm

City of Ottawa Central Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive

Cost: $30.00 per person

Registration is limited and the Deadline for Registration: 21 October 2011

                          Please make cheques payable to "OTTAWA BRANCH, OGS"

                                       Payment must accompany registration form.

Registration Form available at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/?cat=8

                                   For more information: pastchair@ogsottawa.on.ca

 Note: Coffee, tea and water will be available at breaks. Lunch is not included; there is no cafeteria on site but there are a few eating establishments within walking distance. A refrigerator is available for those who wish to bring their own lunch.

Timeline Sept 4 to 7

Sept 4
1876  Ned Hanlan of Toronto won the world rowing championship at Philadelphia.
1888  Canon Henry Scadding founded the Pioneer Association of Ontario by uniting Toronto's York Pioneers and their counterpart in Brampton. This association became the Ontario Historical Society.

Sept 5
1804  Sponsored by Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk, who later founded the Red River Colony, 15 families of Scottish emigrants settled near Wallaceburg.
1944  An earthquake occurred near Cornwall. Damage was estimated at $500,000.
1945  At Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, a nuclear chain reaction was initiated when the ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor went into operation.

Sept 6
1806  The Mississauga Indians ceded to the crown 85,000 acres in the area of Halton and Peel Counties.
1883  The Maid of the Mist made her first voyage at Niagara Falls.

Sept 7
1850  A treaty was concluded between the Province of Canada and nine Ojibwa chiefs whereby territory was surrendered extending some 640 km along the shore of Lake Superior.
1977  Cindy Nicholas of Toronto became the first woman and youngest competitor to complete a two-way crossing of the English Channel.