April 9, 1917 - VIMY RIDGE - Canadian's Show Their Grit

    ONE HUNDRED YEARS ago today, Canadian soldiers jumped into the battle for Vimy Ridge. Other's had tried and failed; but the Canadian's won the day. It cost them dearly; but from that point on they were counted on for getting the job done. I had a number of relatives / ancestors that were in the Canadian Expeditionary Force's of WWI. I haven't found any proof yet that any fought at Vimy. Never the less they served their country and our allies at a time of great need. Follow the events of today with the ceremonies and Remeberances of the day. I know two students that are over in France for the festivities today. Pray it makes an impression on them and others so we don't continue these kinds of acts into the future. The 100th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Follow the battle: http://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/live-blog/vimy-ridge - So today let's Remember When and never forget.

Doing research at the Windsor, Ontario, Public Library

     Well we all know that not everything is available on line; despite what some may believe. When doing research on the family you often need to go to the cities, towns, counties or even countries they came from. Once there you have to visit the local records office, genealogy society/group or in our case Library.  My local main library is the monthly meeting place for the local chapter of the Ontario Genealogical Society (The Essex County Branch). While I am interested in joining this group there are some personal issues that have kept me from doing so. I won't go into those here. However the library has a large collection of local Geneologies donated by people over the years. They have the local newspapers on Micro Film, local grave yard info., maps, a large collection of yearbooks from most of the schools (including ones that no langer exist), the city Directories and local history books. One of the coolest things is that most of this is located on the second floor inside a Local Research room. It is a seperate glassed in room with tables & chairs for the researcher, a Micro Film viewer, and there is a desk with a Librarian on staff at all times. They are there to assist you if you are looking for anything and or to direct you to the best source available. They also can also go and get you books or documents that they have in their holdings that may not be readily available on the shelves. Some of these are in ill repair and so more delicate and they don't leave them on the shelf there fore. However if you inquire and they have it they can bring it in and you can use it. Then they will take it back to the hoding area. You also cannot put things back on teh shelves for yourself. They insist that you leave it on the table when you are finished with it. They will re-shelf it after they record the use of that specific book or document. To show that the room and resources are being used.  The room was built about 2-3 years ago. Up until then everything was just up on teh second floor more or less together and a lot of the things where in the holdings area and hard to get your hands on. Now a lot of it is available on the shelves and only a little is still locked away. I go in about once every 3-4 months and have ment to blog about this a few times. However I kept forgetting to take photos to go with the blog. Yesterday, I finally remembered to do so. If you are interested in researching your family and are in the Windsor area; I would encourage you to use this resource. If you aren't; but can make the trip it is worth while. The other thing is that if you have a quick question about someone from the area; lets say you know that your grandfather lived here in 1956 or so and have his full name you can call and speak with that librarian that is on duty and they will look in the local city directories for that year and or the ones around it to see if he his listed and where he lived. The directory will also tell if he is living with a wife and where he worked. All just a phone call away.  So if you need help to Remember When, then check out the Library.

The view at the door to the second floor research section of the Windsor, Ontario, Public Library, Main Branch.

Local School Year Books.

Local donated Family Histories.

The CIty Directories (this is where I am focused at the moment, copying the info. on my family).

This is the stack of City Directories I left on the table after my 4 hour visit.

The Local History section. 

Micro Film of the Newspapers (The Windsor Star & it's predecessor (Locally)) & the Toronto Globe & Mail.

Census, Death, Cemetary, Land Grant Micro Films.

Ancestry DNA helping fill in the missing pieces (Part 2)

   Just a small update. I have contacted my father and let him know that I have an Ancestry DNA kit coming to me for him; and as of today I sent it to him in the mail this afternoon. He will have it by Tues. or Wed. at the latest. He is interested in finding out the answers related to his relationship to his sister (whom I have also sent a kit to - she already recieved it and sent it back for processing weeks ago). I also told him I have one for my brother and he said that was good. He didn't have much more to say about it yet. We will have to await the results; before we get the real reaction. I gave my brother his last week end. I don't know if he sent in yet; I assume he did. He was interested in the information that this will open up for me and the family and how to make links from it. I explained it a liitle to him and told him to check out the You Tube videos on it. Something else of interest to add to the whole story is that while talking to my oldest daughter about this; she revealed that she and her husband had ordered and sent in their own kits with another of the Genealogy web sites. So we will be able to compare the info from both sites and make links possibly with others who are only on one or the other web site. Very interested to get to the next step in this process. Until then; Remember When.