Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Ontario Archives

I have blogged in the past about Library and Archives Canada’s holdings. Maybe its about time to discuss what is available in the Ontario Archives. Birth, marriage, death, divorce, and land records are a provincial responsibility. As well, there are some records available in the Provincial Archives if you are looking for immigrants.   

The best place to start is to click on the link “Start Your Research”. Scrolling down you will find guides in PDF or HTML formats that can help you find the information that you are looking for. If we access the HTML for “Sources Of Family History” we get the following example:

10. Immigration, Naturalization and Citizenship Records
10.1: Ontario Government immigration records
10.2: Federal Immigration Branch records
10.3: Naturalization and citizenship records

The link “Ontario Government immigration records” shows us what is available on microfilm. This will allow you to find what series of microfilms you might need for your research. You can either go to the Archives or access the microfilm (if you are in Ontario) through Library loan. I know that some of the microfiche, and microfilm records, are available in the London Room at the London Public Library in my home town.

For those like me with an interest in the military the Ontario Archives also have a collection on The War of 1812 up to The Great War.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

London and Middlesex Genealogy Society-June Meeting

Finally,  I was able to attend a meeting of the London & Middlesex Genealogy Society Tuesday evening. Speaker for the meeting was Mr. Al Neely, librarian at the Westmount branch of the London Public Library. His topic was “Google for Genealogists”. This was a very entertaining and informative talk on using Google for genealogical research. My list showed 30 different aspects of Google that one could use from search, advanced search, book search, alerts, google books, news & news archives, cache for old web pages, etc. I think that I will look into Google a bit more, and try some of these uses for my own research.