Comments for OGS Toronto Branch Projects

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.

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

Jane MacNamara — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:22:42 +0000

You may be right. If the first word starts with an “i” (mistaken for j) might it read “Inskil”? Inskil, Ireland bears some resemblance to Enniskillen, Ireland from the gravemarker.

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

Paul Jones — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:45:42 +0000

In the Ontario death record, is it possible that “Island” was a mistranscription from notes or a mishearing of “Ireland”? Not a solution, but a possible simplification of the problem.

Comment on Transcribing in full swing at St. James Cemetery by Jane MacNamara

Jane MacNamara — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:24:13 +0000

Rob: We’d be very glad of your help at St. James Cemetery. We’re finished for the season now, but we’ll put you on the list and notify you when we’re ready to start in the spring—likely the end of April or beginning of May.
Jane