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Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show aside to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her that one of those heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are al...
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New Release: The 1931 Canadian Census

 The 92 year privacy restriction has expired, and that means that (as of June 1 2023) the 1931 Canadian census is available to the public! Set in the middle of the Great Depression, the 1931 census offers a unique perspective about how people were living during that era.  According to Library and Archives Canada, this census is unique from its predecessors in that it delves into not only  where  people lived, but also  how they lived. This difference primarily exists because of the types of information that it collected.  As with every subsequent census, a higher level of detail is required. In the case of the 1931 census, it asks five new questions focused on employment status and the lifestyle within the home.  Starting in 1929, Canada began to see unprecedented levels of unemployment, and as a result of this the 1931 census had to adapt its questions to capture the changing demographic of the country. For reference, the 1921 census only had th...
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Case Study: Researching Extinct Addresses Using Newspapers

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I've written two previous posts about researching extinct addresses, and somehow there is still more to discuss. This case study is going to be focused on using historical newspaper articles to research the Wink's Buildings located in St Jude, Chelsea, London, England up to the 1860's. I conduct my newspaper research through the British Newspaper Archive and the Newspapers section on Find My Past .  One thing that is important to note is that there were multiple Wink's Buildings throughout the greater London area. I have found record of their also being buildings located in Battersea and Islington. Despite being located in different boroughs, the buildings were all in poor neighbourhoods and consequently had poor sanitation. As a result, there are many newspaper articles that describe criminal activity and prolonged outbreaks of disease.  The exact location of these buildings has been highlighted on Charles Booth's map in green. It should be noted that this map was...
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3 Genealogy Forums you Should be Using

Over the past decade forums have helped me break down some of my toughest brick walls and also helped me connect with distant ancestors. Similar to any forms of interpersonal research, my success with forums has largely been dependant on the users that I am connecting with. This means that finding the "right" forum for you is dependant on the type of information you are looking for. This can mean focusing on a specific geographic region or life event such as military service. Unfortunately, when it comes to forums there is no "one size fits all answer". However, I have found that following five forums provide a great great place to start. They cover a wide geographic range and feature a vast array of topics.  1. Ancestry Message Boards If you already have an Ancestry account, then the Ancestry message boards are a great place to start. They can be accessed through the "help" tab.  There are several ways to search the message board. The first involves using...
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Setting Precedence: How my Great Grandmother Fought the Metro Courts (and Won!)

Last year I wrote a post  about my how for me St Patrick's Day is about celebrating the life of my great grandmother. As March 17th has drawn nearer, I have began once again to reflect on who she was and all that she accomplished. I met her many times as a child but I was far too young to actually remember her. Until I started my research, I knew her as a crotchety old lady who always seemed to be the center of family lore. I heard stories about how she proclaimed every Christmas would be her last, how she ironically turned an invite for afternoon tea into moving in for several years, and how she spared no mercy when it came to critiquing the decor in my grandparent's home. To this day, I am yet to hear my family tell a story which paints her in a favourable light. When I began researching her life I wasnt sure what I would find but I hoped that I could change my perception of her. While searching through old Toronto Star and Globe and Mail newspapers, I found a story from Mar...
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Colourizing Black and White Pictures: Is MyHeritage In Colour Worth the Subscription?

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Over the past few years MyHeritage has rolled out a line of photo editing and enhancing tools that allow you to do everything from colourize a black and white picture to create a full fledged talking video of your ancestor. On a few specific occasions throughout the year, they offer free access to these tools however the majority of the time they require a subscription. I began to wonder if what they were offering was truly unique and superior to other sites. To determine if what they are offering is unique and superior, I am going to compare the results of their tools to that of other sites that I have found. All the ones that I am comparing to offer their services for free, but dont necessarily offer the same array of photo editing/enhancement tools.  To facilitate the comparison I am going to be using the pictures below. I chose to colourize and enhance two pictures because an increased sample size would allow me to test a wider range of colours and image qualities. The left pic...
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Ford's Folly and the Slum of Little Hell

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Battersea: The Sinkhole of Surrey During the Victorian Era, Battersea had gained the reputation as being “the sinkhole of Surrey” due to its widespread poverty and slum-like conditions. Many of the poor in Battersea were subject to irregular income from the building trades. For a family to scrape by in the winter they would have to apply thrift spending during the summer. This was often complicated by the reliance on alcohol which was used as a means of escape from the depression of living in such widespread poverty. The irregular income caused many of Battersea’s poor to frequently be on the move. On average a family lived in one place for less than two years before moving no more than a few streets away. After hopping from neighbourhood to neighbourhood the family would eventually return to where they were once exiled from, moving in only a few doors away from their former address. Ford’s Folly and the slum of Little Hell In Keith Bailey’s report Orville Road, Battersea: a Victor...
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Courting Disaster: The 1915 Niagara Trolley Accident

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The worst electric rail crash in Ontario’s history and the  3 rd  worst in Canadian history (at the time)  occurred at Queenston Heights in Niagara Falls on July 7 1915 . In total the crash of car number 685 claimed the lives of 15 people and was responsible for injuring 130 people.  To put the scale of the accident into context, more lives were lost and more people were injured during the 1915 trolley accident than British soldiers during the battle of Queenston Heights.  The main occupants of the trolley were members of Toronto’s Wood Green Methodist and St John Presbyterian Sunday school groups. The two church groups had organized a day trip to Niagara Falls for the approximate 1,100 parishioners (majority of which were women and children). The accident occurred when the two groups were on their way home.  All day the weather had been ideal for taking portraits and going picnicking, however towards the evening hours (approximately 7:15 pm) it began to ra...
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Researching Addresses that no Longer Exist

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Ever since I was young I have said that I wanted to see the place where my ancestor's lived. I never cared if it was a castle or if it was a broken down shack in the woods. What I cared about was that feeling I get when I am able to stand somewhere that one of my ancestor's did many years ago. I spent the past four years researching where in England my ancestors lived with the hope that one day I will be able to go there and experience this feeling. Like many people, COVID had other plans. Its been a year since I initially was planning to take that trip and it seems like it might be at least one more before it can happen. In the mean time I have been revising my route and furthering my research. One of the first things that I do when I get an address for where one of my ancestor's lived, is search for it on Google Maps. Depending on where you are researching, the area may have changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable when compared to when your ancestor lived. For ex...
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