Obituary: Maude (Raycroft) Saunders

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From the Ottawa Citizen, July 12, 1976, p. 22:

SAUNDERS, Maude
Suddenly at her residence, 2129 Knightsbridge on Saturday, July 10, 1976, Maude Raycroft, age 74 years; beloved wife of Lemuel Saunders and dear sister of Mrs. Christina Evans of Pakenham; Mrs. Orville Peever (Elizabeth) Arnprior and Mrs. Theresa Manary, Braeside.  Also survived by several nieces and nephews.  Resting the Tubman Funeral Home, 403 Richmond Rd. at Roosevelt.  Service in the Chapel Tuesday 2.30 p.m.  Interment Pinecrest Cemetery.

Maude's sister Christina was married to Richard Evans, who was an older brother of my great-grandmother, Lavina (Evans) Cameron.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Week 6 - the challenge...

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog presents "52 Weeks To Better Genealogy", a series of weekly genealogy prompts/suggestions/exercises that (hopefully) help you to become a better researcher.

Having recently (re)joined the blogging community, I've only just discovered this wonderful series.  So, despite beginning a few weeks late, here is the exercise for week 6:

Online databases at your public library. Search your library’s web site and see if your card grants you access to online databases. Libraries (even small ones) often have wonderful online tools including genealogy databases, historical newspapers and more! Take some time and play with these little perks that come with a library card. You just may get some help in your own genealogy research and gain some free research tools to boot. If you don’t know how to access online library databases or you’re not sure if your branch has them, ask a librarian for guidance. If you have a blog, discuss which databases (if any) to which your library subscribes.

I'll post my results sometime (!) this week...

Michael Barber's Death Notice

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From the Ottawa Citizen, Friday April 29, 1955, p. 42: 

Died

BARBER, Michel James - At Kinburn, Ontario, on Friday, April 29, 1955.  Michel James Barber, beloved husband of Linda Grainger, in his 83rd year.  Resting at his home, Kinburn, Ontario.  Funeral service Sunday, May 1, 1955, at 2 p.m. to St. John's Anglican Church, Antrim.  Interment St. Mark's Cemetery, Pakenham, Ontario.

I've previously posted his obituary.  I have yet to locate his wife's obituary...

Organization 101: Binders (Part 1)

Having dabbled in all three main methods of genealogical organization, I have finally settled on my final course of action: binders.  File folders proved too flimsy and I failed to keep any genealogy computer programme I tried (PAF, Family Tree Maker, Broker's Keeper...) updated (plus, we're now on our fourth computer since the ancestor hunt began - and I've lost whatever information I've had on each...).

Thus, the Binder Method.

That's the easy part.  Now the trick is to decide how to internally organize the material: family binders divided by surname, by location, or by random (or specific) number; binders per material type vs. "coffee-table" binder; colour-coding woes; and so on.

Below are a few online articles discussing various methods.  Stay tuned for part 2...

Internet Resources:

"Clear your clutter" (part 1) and (part 2) podcasts from GenealogyonDemand and the accompanying handout (Oct/Nov 2006)

"Organizing Your Paper Files Using Binders (Notebooks)" from FamilySearch.org

"In a Pile or a File: A Guide to Organizing Genealogical Research" by Rita F. Bartholomew (2001) [note: includes a few archival no-nos - metal clips, eek! - but the booklet is excellent otherwise]

"Organize your paper files" (in combination with a computer program)

Elyse90505's Channel on YouTube - includes videos for: "How I organize my genealogy", "How To Create A Research Binder", "How to Organize Your Genealogy Part 1", and "How to Organize Your Genealogy Part 2", as well as the blog entry "Organizing the Paper Mountain, Part 2", all by Elyse Doerflinger

"Binders, Notebooks or Folders? Organizing Your Genealogy Files" by Kimberly Powell (About.com)

"A Guide to Organizing Paper Genealogy Files" here and here (this one w/pictures!) by Wayne Hinton, Hinton Genealogy Research (1997)

"Guide to Organizing Your Genealogy Files" by Shannon Wakeland (eHow)

"How to Organize Genealogy with Binders: Notebook Sections for Family Surnames, Documents, Locations" by Jennifer Jensen (suite101.com, 2009)

"Digging Out From the Paper Pile" from Genealogy.com

"Organizing Your Research" by Diana Smith (Genealogy.com)

"Another Sort of A to Z: Your Genealogy Filing System" by Donna Przecha (Genealogy.com)

"Organizing Your Home Records" by Lisa Noirot (Summit County chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, 2001)

DearMyrtle's checklists of organization: January 2009, February 2009, March 2009, April 2009, May 2009, June 2009 [note: while these cover much more than just binders, they're a great series of articles!]

"Get It Together" series of organizational articles by Elizabeth Kelley Kirstens (Ancestry.com, 1999-2000)

"How do I keep all this stuff straight?" George G. Morgan ("Along those lines", Ancestry.com, 1998) [note: this is one of the first articles I ever accessed - and subsequently printed off...]

"Organization is the Key!" series of lessons from Genealogy.com

"Keeping Track of Cousins" by Christine Sievers (suite101.com, 2000)

"Organizing Family History Records" by Marina Garrison (50connect.co.uk)

"Organizing Your Papers" - a series of 4 articles from "Legacy News" (2006)

"Develop an Organizational Plan: One That Will Grow as Your Research Grows" by Phyllis Matthews Ziller (genwriters.com)

Grainger/Cavanagh Anniversary

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I'm related to both the husband and the wife in the above article (transcription below), pulled from the Ottawa Citizen archives digitalized by Google News...

From the Ottawa Citizen of March 26, 1959, p. 28:

55 Years Spent On Farm, Couple Mark Anniversay
KINBURN (Special) - A couple who have spent all their married lives on their farm on the fourth line of Fitzroy, celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary at an "at home."  Some 100 guests signed the guest book for the happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. George Cavanagh.  They were the recipients of many gifts and messages.  A 55-year scroll was received from Erskine Johnston, MLA, and a gift from the school section.  Mrs. Cavanagh is the former Annie Grainger, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Grainger, and Mr. Cavanagh is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Cavanagh, all of Fitzroy township and Kinburn community.  The couple were married in St. Mark's Anglican rectory at Pakenham by Rev. W. Warren.  Their attendants were the groom's sister, Mrs. Emery Dean, and the late Mr. Dean.  They have two sons, Merville and Elmer of Kinburn; and three daughters, Mrs. Robert (Effie) Holmes of Kingston, Mrs. William (Verna) Scripnek of Kingston, and Mrs. Grant (Lola) Smith of Peterborough.  They also have 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Blogger reader = Google = Ottawa Citizen = genealogical happy dance!!

While browsing my blogger reading list (I'm not a fan of the Google Reader), I happened to come across the most recent entry (February 2nd) from the "Librarians Helping Canadian Genealogists Climb Family Trees" blog: "Google makes Historical Ottawa Citizen available online"  Wow!

The short entry barely gives anything away, merely excerpting a small clip from a (current) Ottawa Citizen article by Kelly Egan and stating digitalized copies begin (roughly) in 1890.

Deciding to give it a go (though my ancestors lived throughout the western reaches of the Ottawa valley, they rarely strayed (in official records, anyway) towards the city itself), I clicked on the Google link.  Typing in a few keywords ("barber" and "pakenham") and entering "Ottawa Citizen" in the source box, I hit the enter key.  Little did I expect one of the first entries to jump right off the page...

From the Ottawa Citizen, May 2, 1955, p. 4:

Michael Barber
KINBURN (Special) - Funeral service for Michael James Barber, a resident of Kinburn all his life, was held in St. John's Anglican Church, Antrim, Sunday afternoon.  Mr. Barber died at his home Friday after an illness of several weeks.  He was 82.  Rev. P. Caiger Watson conducted the service.  Burial was in St. Mark's Anglican Cemetery.  Mr. Barber leaves his wife, the former Linda Grainger; three daughters, Mrs. Beattie Timmins, of Pakenham, Mrs. Amy Cameron of Arnprior, and Miss. Pearl Barber of Ottawa; and a son, Norman, at home.

http://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=uc0wAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-dwFAAAAIBAJ&dq=barber%20pakenham&pg=4291%2C25754

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(Did I do my genealogy happy dance?  You bet your bottom I did - and startled the dog and the cat in the process! ;-)

This is my great-grandfather!!! 

This (the Ottawa Citizen), is a resource I wouldn't have thought to check.  Arnprior (where my grandmother lived and is closer than Ottawa), had it's own newspaper (Arnprior Chronicle) which I have earmarked for further study (I've previously went over a few surviving issues that the Archives of Ontario had).  I can't wait to explore further...

To join or not to join...

Now that I'm returning to my search, I've been thinking about my "community" options. 

I was previously a member of the Lanark County Genealogical Society, one of the few genealogy societies in Ontario that is not affliated with the OGS - and thus does not have their high membership (plus branch membership!) fees.

I'm planning (I'm just waiting to print the membership form) to join the LCGS.  By joining, members receive the newsletter, "Lanark Log", 8 times per year and the opportunately to submit research interests (either in the newsletter or on the website).  For $15.00 annually, I'm hardly going to quibble about the price! 

I'm even (gasp!) thinking about joining the OGS (certainly I want to attend the 2010 conference in Toronto this May) - but that may wait for a little while longer.  With an initial membership fee of almost $70.00, plus (multiple) branch fees amounting to $12.00-$15.00 a pop, it's (unfortunately) slightly too rich for my blood.

And then there are the historical societies (which, as a lifelong history student, I'm loath to pass by)...