| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Our Projects Simcoe’s Gentry: Toronto’s Park Lots The Toronto Branch has launched a new searchable web-based publication called Simcoe’s Gentry, which showcases the results of an ongoing Branch research project to document the history of Toronto’s Park Lots. The Park Lots were exclusive properties carved out in the 1790s just north of the Town of York and granted to prominent Upper Canada residents selected by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. These handpicked settlers were free to subdivide and lay out streets on their land as they wished. Many of the buildings, street names and delightful quirks of the downtown Toronto that we know today can be traced back to the days of Simcoe’s gentry. To explore the Park Lot stories, visit Simcoe’s Gentry now. For King and Country: A project to transcribe the war memorials in Toronto schools Many of the more than 600 schools in Toronto have war memorials listing the names of students and staff who served in Canada’s armed forces during WWI, WWII and other conflicts. Finding someone’s name on one of these memorials connects that person to a school and a community. This project involves photographing and transcribing the memorials in each of the schools. The names are made available as they are transcribed in a free searchable online database on the For King and Country website. The "For King and Country" project is also becoming a centralized source for Toronto school history. Currently, the project covers only Toronto District School Board schools. We plan to include Roman Catholic schools, private schools, colleges and universities as soon as possible. The committee would welcome your help. Volunteers are needed for the following tasks:
NOTE: We will supply guidelines for school visits, photography, transcribing, proofreading, etc. To avoid duplication, please don’t visit schools until you have checked with us. If you are interested in volunteering for this project, please contact the committee at: kingandcountry@torontofamilyhistory.org Toronto Trust Cemeteries Project with FamilySearchIndexing In 2006, FamilySearch announced the intention to index all the records in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and the launch of an online tool called FamilySearchIndexing or FSI. In FSI, digital images of a series of records are published online, along with an on-screen form into which a volunteer extracts the information. Every record is transcribed independently by two different volunteers. The computer finds any discrepancies between the two transcriptions, and a third volunteer, an arbitrator, makes the final decision. There are now more than 100,000 volunteers from around the world involved in FSI. We’re very pleased to announce that a new project is now in process —cosponsored by FamilySearch and OGS Toronto Branch. We are going to index the burial registers of the “Toronto Trust Cemeteries” (as the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries was known prior to 1990.) At this point we will be going up to 1935, so that will include:
This is an exciting group of records particularly for researchers with late 19th and early 20th century Toronto ancestors. At present, an index is only available by appointment at the Mount Pleasant Group’s corporate office in Toronto. Our new FSI index will be available free to anyone in the world with an Internet connection. The project is limited to members of OGS Toronto Branch and those we choose to invite as “guest” transcribers. To help us create a high-quality index, all transcribers should be reasonably familiar with Toronto street and neighbourhood names—but you don’t have to live in Toronto. For more information about the project, visit the Toronto Branch Projects blog. Places
of Worship Records Inventory Several publications about the history and organization of denominations and their records have been developed from the extensive research that has been undertaken as part of the project. Many of the records identified by the Inventory have also been transcribed and are available as publications and/or in the Electronic Search. The Places of Worship Records Inventory committee continues to transcribe records and create guides to make genealogical research easier. The committee would welcome your help. You can contact the Places of Worship Records Inventory committee at: info@torontofamilyhistory.org Cemetery
Transcribing Once the transcription of a cemetery has been computerized and checked it is available as a publication. The data is also available as part of a Cemetery Search. There are many large cemeteries yet to do. Although, we don't transcribe gravestones in the winter, the Cemetery Transcribing Committee is still actively computerizing, checking, and producing publications. If you would like to help, please contact the committee at: info@torontofamilyhistory.org
This project, at present, provides an online index with digital images to the 1853 tax rolls for the City of Toronto, and was undertaken with the enthusiastic support of the City of Toronto Archives. The data has also been used for a book/CD publication. The 1853 database will soon be expanded to cover all Etobicoke and Scarborough. We are also working on the transcription of some rare assessment records for York Township for the years 1839 and 1842. (Most York Township records were destroyed by fire in 1881). These records are part of the manuscripts collection of the Toronto Reference Library. The resulting data will be added to our online database, and each record will be linked to images in the Toronto Public Library's Digital Collections. There are also plans to include additional years of assessment and census data. As most of the transcribing is done from digital images, volunteers can work at home—however distant. To find out more, please contact: publications@torontofamilyhistory.org
|
|
|||||||||
Useful Links The following are some useful Genealogical Web links: Genealogy Research Resources - contains many useful links |
||||||||||
Archives of Ontario Church Records 90 reels of microfilm listed at: |
||||||||||
| © Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch. Last Updated March 2011 |
