This new site is slowly building so please keep checking back and tell us what you think. We are again urging members with Genealogical websites to let us include your site on our Links section. Please send your URL to:

ssgsoc@hotmail.com

with "Members Homepage" in the subject line.

Many "thanks" to the new web site team of S. Nelson, Chris Young and George Newbury.

Submitted by Sueann Bailey

Directory of Surname Research Lines for 1999

A 'special thank you" to Sueann Bailey who compiled the lists. Appreciation to Sueann and Barbara Spindler for photocopying the reports and also a thank you to Mary Saul who assisted in folding the directory.

Volunteer Recognition Week

Once again this year, a specific week has been designed across Canada as Volunteer Week - April 18 - 24. During this week recognition is given to the contributions made by volunteers to maintain or improve the quality of life we enjoy in our community.

Barbara Spindler has been recognized from the Genealogy Society. "Congratulations!"

Postal Rate Increase

The Canadian Postal Rates increased on January 1, 1999 which will affect the mailing of the Newsletter and other materials.

The SenateDebate:

"the Lack of Access to the 1911 Census "

....Senate Debates, November 17, 1998 (2168)

Hon. Lorna Milne rose pursuant to notice of October 27, 1998:

That she will call the attention of the Senate to the lack of access to the 1906 and all subsequent censuses caused by an Act of Parliament adopted in 1906 under the Government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

She said: Honourable senators, in 1918, the Borden government passed a new Statistics Act. While this does not sound particularly innovative, there was a clause in this act which is currently causing a great deal of consternation. Clause 15(1) reads, in part:

No individual return, and no part of an individual return, made, and no answer to any question put,, for the purposes of this Act, shall, without the previous consent in writing of the person... be published, nor, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act, any person not engaged in connection with the Census be permitted to see any such individual return or any such part of any individual return.

....... while this happened a long time ago, and does not sound very important now, from now on it will have a tremendous impact upon genealogists, demographic researchers and historians.

The data on census forms has been helpful in tracing family trees; it has helped in tracing medical problems passed along in genealogical lines. Family lineage has also successfully been used in court cases to prove lineage and settle inheritance legalities.

Honourable senators, I am the genealogist in my family. I have published three family histories, and I know how invaluable the census data was in tracing those families. It was an absolutely essential research tool for reconstructing the family unit and tracing them back by 10-year periods. Essentially, it provided a snapshot in time.

As the prominent historian, Father Joseph Gravelle of Otter Lake, Quebec, said before his death in 1971:

Genealogy is not concerned with Blue Bloods and First Families but rather with the 'Little People' who made up the backbone of the country, who pioneered and settled and made their own contributions in their small and untrumpeted ways.

That is true for history, too. If we cut off access to information about the 'Little People' then the only ones who will be written about will be the 'Blue Bloods,' the 'First Families' and the business tycoons of the country. This skew will become obvious in literature written about Canada.

To be fair, I must give the other side of the picture as well. This issue cannot be seen strictly in Black and White. A serious concern which rests on the other side of the issue is privacy. By allowing access to this information, we are changing the rules under which the information was collected. We must ask ourselves how we would feel if it were our personal data that was being used 92 years in the future.

Furthermore, in his 1994-95 report, the Privacy Commissioner recommended that all personalized records from the 1991 census, as well as all other census records not already in the public domain, be destroyed once Statistics Canada has processed the data to ensure its accuracy and quality. This solution would require Statistics Canada to seek an amendment to the census retention and disposal schedule approved by the National Archivist under the National Archives of Canada Act. Luckily, Statistics Canada never agreed to do this, and the 1991 census is still safely maintained. However, the concerns of the Privacy Commissioner do need to be addressed.

Let me close by saying that I am greatly concerned by this lack of access to census data. Through this change, we will destroy a growing Canadian industry, as well as distinguish Canada as being the one nation in the western hemisphere which does not welcome and encourage people to research their families. However, privacy concerns must be balanced with the wish of people to access this kind of information. Perhaps I should move a motion asking the Senate to refer the matter to a committee for further study and out of that committee study might then come a Private Member's Bill.

milnel@sen.parl.gov.ca

Book Reviews

by Terence M Punch, CG(c)

The Genealogist's Address Book, by Elizabeth Petty Bentley (842 pp., indexed)

If you have occasion to deal with US Societies or records repositories, this book belongs on your shelves. The author deals comprehensively with libraries, archives, genealogical and historical societies, government agencies, religious offices, research centres, surname and special interest groups, periodicals, publishers, columnists in newspapers, databases, etc.

There are four parts to the book. National addresses form a short opening section. State and territorial addresses then comprise the bulk of the book. Ethnic and religious organizations are listed in part three, followed by part four "Special Resources", such as adoption registries, software, even radio programmes. I was fascinated with the index to periodicals and newsletters; some I'd not known existed. This feature is rarely encountered anywhere.

If you are a library, a society or a genealogically active person, this book will greatly assist you in making contact with the United States genealogical world. When you realize that 47,746 natives of the Maritime Provinces live in Boston and vicinity in 1890, and reflect on where the Planters, most Afro-Maritimers, and the Loyalists came from, you arrive at the inescapable conclusion; you will very likely, sooner or later, be working with material only available in the United States. You will want access to all the possible contacts there are and Mrs. Bentley's book will make a difference for you.

Available at Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1001 N. Calvert St. Baltimore, MD 21202-3897 for $43.45 US, postage paid (ISBN 0-8063-1580-6).

..........

The Hessians of Nova Scotia, revised edition, xiv + 2270 pp. Available from German Canadian Historical Book Publishing, 703-350 Concession Street, Hamilton, ON L9A 2X2, for $26.00 a copy.

This book lists 235 "Hessian" soldiers (actually Hessen-Kassel, Ansbach, Anhalt, Waldeck, Brunswick and Hessen-Hanau) settled in Nova Scotia or stayed here long enough to appear in our records. A number of these men founded families in Lunenburg County or left some record of their presence. As their names may interest our members, here is a list from the book:

Aulenbach, Johann Philipp
Becker, Jacob
Becker, Georg
Bell, Johannes
Blochberger, Christian Benjamin
Bollmann, Johann Daniel
Boss (Bowes) Johann Christian
Brenter, Johann Gottlieb
Carboor (Carver), Johann
Doerr (Tarr), Henrich
Eichel (Oichel), Johann George
Falt, Joseph
Freightage, Caspar Heinrich
Hahne, Frederich
Holland, Georg Wilhelm
Hyaenic, Johann Michael
Kauffman, Johann Christoph
Knees, Johannes
Koch, Johann Georg
Leopold, Johann Nicholas
Leopold (Laybolt), Christoph
Mainone, Johann Michael
Meyer, Johann Jacob
Meyer (Myra), Johann Barnhard
Otto, Tobias
Radigast, Johann Gottlieb
Ringer, Johann Michael
Salzmann, Caspar Friedrich
Schneider, Johannes
Schoenemann, J. Carl Ludwig
Schroeder, Johann Conrad
Storch, Lucas
Strempel, Johann Heinrich
Stuebing (Stevens), Johann Georh
Stuebing, Johannes
von Beust, Philipp
Wambach, Johann Ludwig

Readers will observe several familiar South Shore surnames above. Although a few may need explaining, most are easily seen. I have shown some of the less obvious names in parentheses.

There is at least a page devoted to each 'Hessian", together with reference to the sources of the information. If a family in which you are interested appears here, and you want the book, Mr. Merz has also an E-Mail address: <hessian@cgocable.net> and a home page http//www.cgo.wave.ca/~hessian

..........

Passenger & Immigration Lists Index, 1999 Supplement, Part 2 (576 pp) and Part II (604 pp).

The 1999 Supplements, actually published during 1998, offer a further quarter of a million references to those already listed in the series, bringing the total to 3,176,000 named persons who reached America before 1900.

The present sources surveyed 330 books and articles for the names listed. Forty-five of the sources are Canadian references, of which nineteen related to Atlantic Canada:

- Byrne, Cyril, "The Brig 'Thomas Farrell', An Nasc, 1991.
- The Case of the Schooner 'Fanny' from Waterford to St. John's 1811, Au Nasc, 1990.
- Emigrants to Cape Breton, 1906, The Cape Breton Genealogical Society Newsletter, 1995.
- George Hayward, "Provincial Secretary's Immigration Records," Generations, 1995..
-"St. Andrew's Immigration Records," Generations, 1996.
G. P. Hennessey, " The Yorkshire Migration", The Flowing Stream, 1988 and 1989.
-Julien Herpin, "Les Malouins colonisateurs au Canada; les Acadiens deportes dans la region Malouine," Nova Francia, 1927 and 1928.
-Dianne C. Jackman, "Notices appearing in the Royal Gazette, 1814" The Newfoundland Ancestor, 1993.
-Michael Kennedy, " Emigrants on the 'Edinburgh', 1771 a New Passenger List for Prince Edward Island," The Island Magazine, 1996.
-"Passenger List for the Brig 'Ambassador', Londonderry, Ireland, to Saint John, NB, 1834," Generations, 1997.
-Michel Poirier, Les Acadien aux Iles Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, 1758-1818. Moncton, 1984.
- Terrence M. Punch, "Finding Our Irish", Nova Scotia Historical Review, 1986.
-Nova Scotians Naturalized at Philadelphia, 1807-1880," The Nova Scotian Genealogist, 1992.
-"Passengers on the 'Aide-de-Camp'," Genealogical Research in Nova Scotia, 1978, 1998.
-"Scots Settlers to Long Point, 1816: the Ship 'Tartar'," The Nova Scotia Genealogist, 1984.
-"Sutherlandshire Settlers on the Brigantine 'Prince William'," The Nova Scotia Genealogist, 1985.
-"Wann Sie in Harrietsfeld Deutsch Sprachen," The Nova Scotia Genealogist, 1983.
-"Offer Made, Offer Taken: Passengers on the 'Ann' to Nova Scotia, 1750", The Palatine Immigrant, 1982.
-"Passengers on the 'Pearl', 1752," Northwest Trail Tracer, 1983.

{Note: The last three have ancestors of South Shore families}

Available at : Gale Research,

27500 Drake Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535

"20th Anniversary for the South Shore Genealogical Society"

Events

April 9, 1999 - Chester Mun. Heritage Society, Annual Meeting at St. Stephen's Church hall, Cr. & King & Regent St., 7:30 PM. Speaker, Terrence M. Punch, CG (C), "Rooting your Family Tree in NS" followed by a reception at the Zoevalle Library.

June 6, 1999 - Open House - Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

June 12 - 13, 1999 - Museum Day Weekend.

Web Sites

I have received several requests to include a few Internet addresses that would be helpful in doing Genealogy. I noticed that almost half of the Membership renewals received included an E-Mail address on their form.

Geographical Names - This site is by Natural Resources, Canada. It is simple to use by keying in a Geo Name and it will show how many and the location of the place names.

http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/english/cgndb.htm

NS GenWeb Project - is based on US GenWeb Project. The goal of the initial project was to collect databases and other genealogical information and have a single location on the Web for viewing.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~canns/

Smile

In a Georgia Cemetery:

"I told you I was sick!"

Queries

Just a reminder that all Members of the SSGS are able to post a short query free of charge.

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