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*Newsletters Archive*
| January , 2003 | |
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South Shore Genealogical Society PO Box 901 68 Bluenose Drive Lunenburg NS B0J 2C0 Phone : 1-902-634-4794 Ext. 26 ssgsoc@hotmail.com www.rootsweb.com/~nslssgs Winter Office Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 1:00 to 4:30 PM and Evenings by appointment Zellers - Club Z#: 840345301 |
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President's Message The year 2003 promises to be an exciting one for descendants of the 1,453 'Foreign Protestants' who came to Lunenburg in 1753. One of next year's highlights will be the unveiling of a monument with the names of the founding German and Swiss families to be unveiled on Blockhouse Hill adjacent to the Montbeliard monument (1988). The web address for the Foreign Protestant Memorial is http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monument/
The Town has a number of special concerts and anniversary events planned to take place throughout 2003.
The SSGS has received a number of inquiries regarding the Grand Reunion 2003 Party on the July 13th weekend, for a schedule of that committees events, members should contact the Grand Reunion 2003 Party Committee directly at http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bryanfkeddy/2003party.html
The South Shore Genealogical Society plans to have a booth at the Academy during the Grand Reunion weekend (July 13th). We expect to have a display of genealogical material and offer our publications for sale including copies of Index to Lunenburg County Vital Statistics from Local Newspapers on Microfilm, Pre-1900. This is an ongoing project of the Society's 2003 Committee. We will be looking for volunteers from our membership to help with extended Society office hours during that busy weekend. If you can spare a few hours from hugging long lost cousins let Barbara know and your name will be added to the roster of office helpers. Now is the time to get your genealogical notes in order to better assist researchers when they arrive in droves next summer.
History of the Lunenburg Foundry now in Print! LUNENBURG - When Karin Cope made her first visit to Lunenburg five years ago; it was out of curiosity rather than necessity.
Ms Cope and collaborator Marike Finlay-de Monchy recently released their latest book, Casting a Legend - The Story of the Lunenburg Foundry, during a gathering at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.
She explained the pair were living in Montreal at the time, and had just imported a boat, which they had purchased together in Maine.
"I think [Marike] had been here by car before," Ms Cope said. "We just started sailing up the Nova Scotia coast and kind of ducking in everywhere."
One of the ports that they "ducked" into happened to be Lunenburg, where, Ms Cope said, they were "just thrilled to find the Foundry."
At the end of summer, after navigating as far north as the Bras d'or Lakes, they returned to Lunenburg, this time with a purpose.
"The Foundry was the only place that could haul our boat, because it was a very beamy boat," she explained. "And we just had such a wonderful time with people, they were so helpful and friendly."
The following year, after spending a second summer in the province, the two women decided to quit their jobs and make a permanent move to Nova Scotia.
"There was a conversion experience," Ms Cope laughed.
The pair decided to purchase a house on the eastern shore at West Quoddy, primarily due to economic reasons.
"We came here because it's very deserted, and a lot easier to find a house by the water . for a reasonable sum of money," she explained.
Although they eventually settled a considerable distance from Lunenburg, Ms Cope said they continued regular contact with their newfound friends in the South Shore town.
"We were always in communication with the Foundry," she said. "We had to sell our boat. We were joking all the time that we were eating our boat."
She said that throughout the selling process, she was impressed by how "lovely to us" personnel at the Foundry had been.
"Within an hour of selling the boat, folks from the Foundry came out and said, 'Oh, I know where there's a boat you can get,'" she said. "In fact, they found us the schooner Harmona, which we did buy and have renovated."
During this time, the two women also began to look at the company in a somewhat different light.
"We started thinking, 'this is a really cool place and it doesn't look like there's any books on it,'" she said.
The two women approached Lunenburg Foundry and Engineering Ltd. president Peter Kinley as well as Dorothy Blythe, managing editor of Nimbus Publications, about the possibility of such a creation.
Both sides agreed that it was "a worthy undertaking," and after a few months of research, the actual writing of the book began.
She said the production was greatly assisted by Foundry employee Janice Sampson, who had compiled and maintains an extensive archive of information on the company.
"She had organized a lot of photographic material, a lot of documentary material she'd taken from photographs," Ms Cope explained. "She knew where everything was, so she sort of pointed us through it."
There were also countless interviews with past and present employees of the company, as well as a big help from a former president of the firm.
"Mr. [Jim] Kinley had written a history of the Foundry in the late '60s when he was beginning to take over some of its operations," she explained. "That was quite helpful in understanding the corporate structure of the Foundry, the different kinds of things they did."
One of the highlights was the company's metamorphosis during the war, when "it had gone from being [primarily] a stove manufacturer, with some things that it did for ships, too, to outfitting ships for the navy."
"That really completely changed the industry," Ms Cope said.
Another large boost to the project was a narrative by Dan Young, one of the developers of the "make and break" engine.
"He started working at the Foundry at the turn of the century . [and] eventually became one of the managerial staff," Ms Cope explained. "He was involved with every aspect of the Foundry for years."
She said that Mr. Young's accounts also contained a number of recollections pertaining to humorous events, which occurred over the years at the company.
"So there also was a lot of local humour," she said. "We tried to incorporate as much of that memoir as possible. It's like we had him along with us."
Ms Cope said that it took almost six months from the time that she and Ms Finlay-de Monchy began their research, until Casting a Legend was finally a reality.
The work was enjoyable, however, and the result was worth the effort.
"It was a really fun project to do," she said.
Taken from the Bridgewater Bulletin, November 13. 2002
SPECIAL INVITATION TO GENEALOGISTS, RESEARCHERS Members of the Canada Census Committee have been told that legislation will be coming very shortly (likely when Parliament resumes). WE do not know the content and will not until the government bill is presented, likely in the House of Commons.
There are many happenings, and other readers of mail lists become tired of census postings -- these are NOT political -- but laws can only be changed in Ottawa. Census records are a genealogy basis!
I want the 1906, 1911 and even later census records IN FULL!
An invitation is extended to subscribe to our own mail list CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L-request@rootsweb.com
Only one word to be used: subscribe[Should you wish Digest format, change the L to a D]
Gordon A. Watts is listowner -- also keeps the scoreboards!! The list is one where "personal opinions" may be aired, without knuckles being rapped!
All genealogists and researchers should belong to this mail list. Everyone is welcome!!
Muriel M. Davidson muriel_davidson@sympatico.ca
Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Brampton, ON
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~downhome/committee.html
Web Sites Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book - A List of Those who Died
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/remembrance/
A short history and photographic record of the 106th Overseas Battalion C.E.F. Nova Scotia Rifles.
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/rifles/rindex.htm
This site is a good reference for those of you interested in period costumes of 1753.
http://www.victoriana.com/lady/palmer.html
The January 2003 edition of the Smithsonian Magazine has an article about some of the residents of Lunenburg who are quite mature. The writer seems to believe that the geographic area is one of the determining factors. You can read the article at:
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