Comments for OGS Toronto Branch Projects

Comment on Discovering the Duchess Street Burial Ground by Chris Raible

Chris Raible — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:30:20 +0000

I just re-discovered your fine research paper on the Toronto Presbyterian Burial Ground with its reference to the Mackenzie family members once buried there. Please forgive me for not responding when I first received it many months ago.
In 1989 I did extensive research – starting with inscriptions in the Mackenzie family Bible – trying to locate the burial ground and the ultimate location of their remains. It was that research that led the Necropolis to erect the plaque you quote. I have a summary of that research – and accompanying documents – if you or anyone is interested.

Comment on The Curious Case of Dr. Henry Head Gray by doug howard

doug howard — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:06:20 +0000

i have been trying to find the heirs of a florence grey who is supposed to be the daughter of fannie grey; they lived in okc and i think this is related to the h.h. grey story

Comment on Discovering the Duchess Street Burial Ground by chris uttley

chris uttley — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 02:30:55 +0000

Just wondering….I have been trying to find out where 97 to 105 Duchess Street is in the current Toronto.
Supposedly the Kormann Brewery was at that address…but I cant translate it into a modern address.

All help appreciated!

Comment on Transcribing in full swing at St. James Cemetery by Margaret Gordon

Margaret Gordon — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:31:33 +0000

I have a photo of the grave stone in St. James Cemetery for the Shortt family, Lots 79 and 80 Section 3, if you are interested.

Comment on Just where was James Crawford born? by Bulletin No. 1 » Enniskerry Local History

Bulletin No. 1 » Enniskerry Local History — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:30:34 +0000

[...] Request for help on the discussion board from someone in Canada who thinks that they may have an Enniskerry link [...]

Comment on About indexing place names by Barry Taylor

Barry Taylor — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:57:29 +0000

Our experienced team indexers no doubt already know about these, but I thought mention of them might be valuable for new and prospective team members. (I was one of those not so very long ago!)

For verifying Ontario place names:

http://www.ogs.on.ca/branches/ontariolocator.php

http://www.geneofun.on.ca/ontariolocator/

For verifying Toronto street names:

http://map.toronto.ca/imapit/iMapIt.jsp?app=TOMaps

The latter is especially useful as it allows the use of wild cards. This gives indexers a means of resolving illegible letters in a street name.

For data input up to 1922 the old Toronto Might Directories are helpful for solving street and person name riddles.

http://sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite/Home/can/on/toronto

The only downside to use of these directories is that they involve big images or data files, so unless one has a fast computer and considerable Internet speed it’s a bit of a slow process to use them.

Do you have other favourite assisting tools?

Barry Taylor
Sooke, British Columbia

Comment on About indexing place names by Liz

Liz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:10:25 +0000

Another tactic I’ve found to be useful in some instances, is to consult the death registration images available to me via my ancestry.ca subscription. Seeing much of the same information in another hand can be helpful in deciphering a name or location.

Of course I am careful to ensure it *is* the same person! and only to transcribe the actual details given in the cemetery record.

Comment on Just where was James Crawford born? by Jane MacNamara

Jane MacNamara — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:03:32 +0000

Thanks for your ideas, Jean.

Comment on Just where was James Crawford born? by Jean McNulty

Jean McNulty — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:23:38 +0000

I know a bit about County Fermanagh where it seems James Crawford was from. Unfortunately, he left Ireland before Griffith’s Valuation took place in that county so it won’t be possible to identify any Crawfords related to him who stayed in Ireland. However, I do know that there are two large lakes in County Fermanagh; Enniskillen is between the two lakes. There are many islands in both lakes, especially Lower Lough Erne. I looked at the parishes and townlands in the county that might be where James Crawford was from. One that I think is possible is the parish of Inishmacsaint. Inish can be written as “Inis” or “Inch”. (“Inish” is the Gaelic word for “island”.) Within the parish of Inishmacsaint, there is a townland called “Island”. Maybe James was born in the townland of Island, in the parish of Inishmacsaint?

Regarding the “Enniskillen, Ireland” on the gravestone, it could be his family (probably his children) thought that place name would be more recognizable than Inishmacsaint.

Comment on Just where was James Crawford born? by Paul Jones

Paul Jones — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:32:04 +0000

I retract my previous comment. I just looked up Enniskillen and lo and behold it’s known as the “Island County Town of Fermanagh”. Here’s a link to a map that shows the island. So the Ontario death record may well have been an abbreviated form of “Enniskillen Island”.

http://www.enniskillen.com/images/enniskillen.gif

That said, I can’t see anything that helps with the Necropolis register.